Corruption
by tek
Summary: The group meets and reunites to take down Umbrella. The story is set after Code Veronica X. Complete, final chapter added.
1. Default Chapter

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Corruption

Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, or anything associated with it. I do, however, own the story.

Chapter One: Raining On Valentine's Day

The rain fell down on the roof of the speeding Honda Civic. It's passengers paid no mind to it, they just sat in silence. Silence that was consumed in fear, anxieties, tension, and other emotions that the two were feeling. The driver cast a glance to the clock positioned between the air vents, and the other controls in the car. 

"Why don't you watch the road?" The female passenger said annoyed.

"Do you want to drive?" The man replied sarcastically, settling back in the cloth seat.

"Yeah," she replied, "but you won't let me."

"Well, you're nineteen, do you even have a driver's license?" 

She shoved the small license in his face.

"You told me to watch the road, Claire." Chris Redfield snorted.

"Well, Chris, I have an I.D. and I could drive." Claire Redfield replied, reclining her seat back to take a nap.

Chris once again checked the clock, the green numbers glaring 12: 35.

__

'It's Valentine's Day…'

Chris sighed, accelerating slightly.

Him and Claire had been driving for about four hours straight. Ever since they had left the airport, Claire had been quiet, which was drastic change from what she used to be like. Then again, she had lived through the undead twice, captured by Umbrella, and almost killed by a monster who told her he loved her. He clenched his bruised jaw as he remembered her breakdown before they had left for the Paris airport.

__

He had been standing in the bathroom, swallowing some painkillers when Claire had wandered into the bathroom while he was thinking.

"You'll see her again." She'd muttered. 

"And you'll see him." 

His statement had sent her flying into his arms, her body wrenching with sobs. They both sat on the tiled hotel bathroom floor, while she'd cried because she hadn't loved Steve Burnside, how her heart belonged to Leon Kennedy, the guy who'd escaped with her in Raccoon.

"Ssh, I know." He tried to comfort her, but apparently that had been the wrong thing to say.

"You don't know. You don't fucking know!" She'd stood up.

Chris swallowed, their Redfield tempers both flaring to the surface.

"How the hell do I not know? My whole fucking team was fucked over and murdered, no slaughtered! Then you're gonna tell me I don't know!" He sucked in air.

"Well, it's your fault, if you had maybe called me I wouldn't have went to Raccoon or to the God damned island!" Claire retorted, shoving her brother.

"Damn it. Why hell would you go to a zombie- infested town, or to Umbrella Headquarters? Could you really confuse me for a zombie?"

"Well you're as ugly as one!" It had been a childish retort, but he knew she was mad as hell.

His jaw opened to say something, but instead he burst out laughing.

"I don't think me having a break down is very funny." But even Claire had broken a smile.

The siblings laughed for a long time after that.

Chris chuckled lightly.

The rain hadn't let up any, and the pitter-patter on the car roof was becoming a nuisance. Chris was going to turn on the radio, when he saw Claire sleeping. So he settled with just watching the road, and trying not to let the rain get to him.

~ * * ~

Jill Valentine sat on the soft cloth couch. Her azure eyes watched as the television flashed from channel to channel, as Leon Kennedy flipped through the stations aimlessly.

"Are you ever going to decide on anything?" Jill muttered.

"Unless it's a news report saying Chris Redfield and Claire Redfield are safe and coming to Boston, Massachusetts, no." Leon replied, pressing the power button on remote control. The T.V. station flickered and the picture shook, before it finally faded to black.

"Don't we wish." Jill said, pulling her feet closer, feeling a chill in the air.

She looked at the old clock, ticking as the seconds passed by. 12:40 in the morning, she rubbed her eyes.

"You look tired, why don't you go to bed?" Leon asked, playing with the cap to his water bottle.

Jill shrugged. She listened downstairs, Barry Burton was trying to salvage information off the computer, Rebecca Chambers was upstairs with Carlos Oliveira, they were cleaning guns, and stocking ammo. This left her and Leon to themselves. Both were sullen, both missing the Redfields. Leon had told her that he felt he had fallen for Claire Redfield after she had told him of her relationship with Chris Redfield. 

Her thoughts then wandered off to Carlos Oliveira. She knew he had some sort of feelings for her, the looks he gave her, he had flirted with her in Raccoon, but she had firmly told him of her relationship, somehow she didn't figure Carlos was that easy to accept no. But lately she had noticed that Rebecca and Carlos had been spending more and more time with each other.

Leon stood up.

"Where are you going?" Jill asked.

"To get something to eat, want something?" 

"Just some Mountain Dew."

"Mountain Dew it is." Leon walked off to the kitchen.

~ * * ~

Barry Burton sat back watching the screen to his computer. The screen saver danced across, showing various guns. It was Barry's choice, he smiled, the same screen saver that he had back in S.T.A.R.S. A broader grin broke across his face. The memories of Brad "Chickenheart" Vickers looking paranoid as Albert Wesker yelled about a mission, Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield making plans for their dates and eyeing each other. Rebecca Chambers, Enrico Marini, and himself engaged in their work, Kenneth Sullivan, Forest Speyer, and Joseph Frost talking about something among natures Barry didn't even want to know, and that bastard Wesker always gone.

He sneered remembering how Wesker had threatened his family and betrayed him, causing him to take part in his scam. He then checked his watch. They should be here any minute now. He smiled, hoping the plan would work. He knew Jill had no idea, everytime she asked if he had found anything on Chris, he just told her he didn't know. Even the smitten Leon had been trailing around like a love-sick puppy. The quiet knock on the door shook him from his thoughts.

"Welcome home." He whispered.

~ * * ~

Chris pulled around the block. Parking in some sort of supermarket lot. He woke Claire, who wasn't the least bit happy.

"Are you telling me we have to walk around in the pouring down rain, just for this surprise?" Claire complained.

"Do you want to see Leon or not?" Chris retorted.

"Fine." She grumbled.

After about five minutes they were both drenched completely, Chris' dark blue sweater colored completely black, and the white fitted t-shirt transparent to his skin. His combat pants were soaked, his shoes squishing with every step. Claire was the only one who was smart enough to grab a coat, so her auburn hair stayed its natural color, her green sweater didn't turn darker, but her jeans were turning a darker tint, and her shoes were also squishing along with Chris'. They finally reached the three-story house, and crept down to the shaded wooden door, Barry said it led to the basement, and Chris knocked softly.

~ * * ~

Rebecca Chambers zipped the duffel bag full of ammo, and placed it against the others softly. Carlos Oliveira stacked another 12 Gauge against the wall. He shot her a smile as they returned to their places. They had been working for at least an hour, but Rebecca didn't mind. She enjoyed working with Carlos, there was just something about him that made her feel comfortable around him.

__

'Becca you've got a crush.'

Those were the wise words of Jill Valentine when she had told her about how she felt. She supposed she should listen to her, Jill was more experienced in that area. Her thoughts drifted how she had previously had a crush on Christopher Redfield. Hell, so had most of the women population in the Raccoon City Police station. It didn't take long after her arrival that there was no getting past the relationship of Chris and Jill. A few of the guys had cast their eyes toward her, but for the most part guys were after Jill. Chris and Jill didn't let any of that get to them. Carlos would flirt always, but he also flirted with Jill. Jill wasn't going to allow it though. Rebecca sighed, a little loud, causing Carlos to look up. He flashed another smile, then went back to work.

Carlos was lost in thought, Rebecca or Jill, Jill or Rebecca. He liked them both, and was beginning to fall deeper into the triangle. Jill seemed to ignore his passes, but then again she could be playing hard to get. She had mentioned a guy named Chris, but how could she love him if he hadn't been there for her in Raccoon? He shook his head, then began to think about Rebecca. She was cute sure, and probably matched his personality better, but everything was so messed up and confusing. He was going to continue to think about the two women, when there was a shout from downstairs.

~ * * ~

The door opened into a dark basement, the only light illuminating from the computer. A man welcomed the duo into the room, both shivering and soaked.

"Redfield you rascal, how have you been?" Barry's baritone voice whispering, a large hand ruffling the soaked matted hair on Chris' head. 

Claire smiled, Barry reminded her of a father, although her own was charming and funny like Barry, he hadn't looked anything like him. She figured he was like a dad to Chris, and it seemed that was how it was going to be with her.

"The usual, you know almost dead." He chuckled.

Barry's dark brown eyes shot to Claire, "Claire…" He drawled.

"Hey Barry." She smiled, still nervous around him, like the first time they had met.

"You look like wet rat." He laughed quietly at the two.

"Well lover boy over here wants to surprise Jill…so you know." Claire replied.

Chris' red cheeks were covered by the growing stubble and the now fading bruise.

Barry laughed again, "Then let's get the plan into action before you two get too loud."

They started to creep up the stairs, when there were footsteps close to the door and a muffled male voice. Chris looked at Barry and walked forward. The voices were Leon giving Jill her request, the Mountain Dew, and returning to the kitchen to pick up his own food.

Chris reached for the doorknob, "Are you sure they don't know?"

"No now go." Barry hissed. 

Claire giggled.

Chris rolled his shoulders and pulled the door open.

Jill was setting the canned drink down and Leon was shoving a fork full of hot food in his mouth, both wide-eyed. It took Jill a moment to register that it wasn't Barry coming out the door. The man she saw was taller, lean and the soaking wet clothes showing his toned, muscular body. His darker, shaggy hair was wet and going in all different directions from were Barry had ruffled it. The stubble across his face was dark and hiding a bruise on his. Even though he didn't look the same as he did, he was still the sexiest thing in her eyes. She let out a shout and jumped over the couch, right in to the arms of Chris Redfield. 

They couple stumbled back as Chris struggled to hold her up, he adjusted his arms, not noticing Rebecca and Carlos come flying down the stairs, Carlos with a shotgun and Rebecca with a Berreta. Jill clung to Chris' shoulders sobbing. He felt himself begin to tear up, and he whispered into her chocolate hair.

Rebecca handed the gun to a confused Carlos, who set them against the wall.

"Chris Redfield!" She yelled.

Jill dropped down and let Rebecca hug the cold and shaking man, "Hey Becky." He said softly, never taking his eyes off of Jill who was wiping her eyes. Rebecca pulled back and Jill took her place at Chris' side.

"I never should have left you, I'm so sorry, I love you so much." He breathed.

She just nodded.

"You're right, you shouldn't have." Carlos muttered.

"Excuse me?" Chris pulled back.

Claire, Jill, Barry, and Rebecca saw the familiar temper begin to surface.

"You never should have left her you asshole, you don't care about her!" Carlos growled.

Before anybody could stop him, Chris rammed Carlos into the nearest wall, his hands holding him against it. Fear flashed in the shorter man's coffee eyes as Chris' own turned to ice.

"The hell I don't love her. What the fuck is your issue?" Chris snarled.

"Chris!" Barry barked.

"Back off." Chris retorted.

"Chris please…" Jill pleaded softly.

"What the fuck is my issue? You're my issue. Even if she does love you, how could she? You left her to die in a fucking infested town. Where were you when that damned Nemesis infected her? Where were you? You bastard you-" Carlos was interrupted by Chris slamming a hand down on the wall, mere centimeters from Carlos' head. 

A silence filled the room.

"You can call me whatever the hell you want. I don't care if you insult me or what your opinion is of me…" Chris' voice cracked, "but don't you ever accuse me of not loving her. I may not have been there this time, but I was the first time. We've been dating since the first day she fucking joined S.T.A.R.S. damn it. It will eat me alive everyday that I wasn't there. I'll be there from now on." Chris jerked back to Carlos' relief.

"Whatever, I'm the one that actually loves her." Carlos replied.

Chris stopped, his fists clenching and Carlos figured that this time he wouldn't survive Chris slamming him into the wall. But Jill was the one who stepped forward.

"You know what? I've had it with you. You don't love me Carlos, you just think you do. Even if you do, despite what you think, I don't return those feelings. Why do you think I've been so depressed and turning you down? I told you I love Chris, why can't you get that through your head?" Jill tried to keep calm for everyone's sake.

Carlos mumbled something, and stormed up the stairs to his room.

There was an awkward moment in the room.

"How about we do the catching up tomorrow morning, it's about 1:00 am, so let's get to bed." Barry ushered everyone upstairs.

~ * * ~

Chris wrapped his arm around Jill's waist, following her lead up to the room. They entered the darkness of the room, Leon and Claire following to Leon's room. Chris noticed this, but decided to let it slide, Claire was smart and knew how to take care of herself. She needed to sort things out with Leon and what happened, happened.

Jill flipped the lights on, and turned to Chris. "You're probably wondering what the hell all that was about?" Jill arched an eyebrow.

Chris nodded, stripping out of his now damp sweater. "Yeah, I'm a little curious."

"His name is Carlos Oliveira. He was an Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Soldier, his team was sent in to help Raccoon, the leader turned on them and turned into a psycho. He's been flirting with me and Rebecca, and I thought he had moved to Rebecca. They would make a very good couple. He helped me get out of Raccoon alive. An Umbrella bio-weapon nicknamed Nemesis was sent out to kill all the remaining S.T.A.R.S. he succeeded in murdering Brad, and there was nothing I could do except watch him be slaughtered in front of me. He also infected me with the G-Virus, Carlos got the antidote and saved me." Jill explained, trying not to be distracted by the translucent view of Chris' wet shirt.

"So I guess I should have been thanking him instead of strangling him." Chris smirked, turning out the light.

Jill smiled, "You know I love you. Just give him some time."

Chris nodded, his look turning serious. "Brad was…"

"Yeah." Jill moved closer to Chris laying her head on his shoulder. They lay there enjoying the company of each other in the dark.

"God, poor Chickenheart." He mumbled, stroking Jill's hair.

Jill sighed softly.

"I wanted to apologize." Chris said.

"For what?"

"For leaving. I should have taken you with me. I meant what I told Carlos earlier. I love you." Chris whispered.

"Don't blame yourself. We had to go… _you_ had to go. If you hadn't of, God knows what could've happened." Jill replied, sitting up.

Chris looked her in the eyes, "You know, if I hadn't met you, I never would've survived. There wouldn't be any reason to."

Jill shook her head, "If I hadn't of met you, I know I wouldn't have survived. How many times did you risk your life to save mine in Spencer?" 

"How many times did Carlos risk his life to save you in Raccoon?" Chris muttered.

"A few…do I sense jealousy Redfield?" Jill joked.

"Well, he seems to feel very strongly…"

"Doesn't matter what _he_ feels, what matters is what _I _feel." Jill said.

"And what do you feel?" Chris asked playfully.

"You know what I feel. There's no reason to be jealous Chris."

"Calling me jealous? Do you not recall when Rebecca first joined Bravo?"

"Okay, enough in that category. Anyway, Carlos likes her." Jill replied.

Chris chuckled at Jill's embarrassment. He met her eyes again, running his hands through her hair. She closed her eyes at his familiar touch. When she opened them, she saw that look in his eyes that he used to get. The look where it seemed like he was lost in her.

"God you're beautiful." He muttered, and leaned down to kiss her lips.

They met softly, the passion between the two being renewed. Jill grabbed a handful of his still soaked shirt, and drew him closer. Chris placed his hands on either sides of Jill's hips and picked her up slowly so she was on top of him. She exhaled as she pressed into the coldness of his clothes. Suddenly Jill broke the kiss.

"Shit."

Chris looked confused, "What's wrong?"

Jill laughed, "You're clothes are soaked, that means the bed is too."

Chris smiled, "Floor's fine with me."

"But you've got me soaking wet." Jill replied.

Chris opened his mouth to say something, then began laughing as he realized what she'd just said. 

"Oh, you pervert!" She hissed.

"But I'm your pervert." He replied before kissing her again.

Jill moaned as Chris' hands slipped under her shirt, he tugged at it lightly. She helped him pull it off and then their lips met again. Jill gripped Chris' shirt more, and he sat up, ripping it off. They broke the kiss for short ragged breaths. Jill's nails raked softly across the back of Chris' neck. He let out lustful growl, and Jill smiled, knowing she had him. 

"Jill…" He moaned in a low ragged voice.

It was enough to set her off, and she thrust her hips forward causing him to buck his. He kissed down her neck, his hot breath beating down also. She arched her back, and moaned again. His eyes met hers as her hands found the snap to his jeans. She got them undone and groped at the belt loops to slide them off. He leaned up and pushed them off himself. Jill pulled at her own pants, and finally got them off. Chris rolled them over and placed kisses along Jill's collarbone, then along her neck until he met her lips again. His hands found the clasp to her bra. He fumbled with it for a second before finally getting it undone. His right hand found its way up to Jill's shoulder, and began sliding the strap down. Once her bra was off, Jill went for Chris' boxers, her fingertips grazing just below the rim. He mumbled something, and Jill gripped the sides of her panties and slid them off. Chris pressed into her, the thin material of his boxers the only thing preventing them from pleasure.

"Take them off." Jill ordered softly.

Chris thrust his hips forward and Jill let out another groan. 

"Don't tease…Chris please. It's been nine months."

"Believe me, I know." Chris replied.

Jill led his hands down to the boxers. He pulled them off and slung them behind their thrashing forms. 

"I love you." Chris whispered into Jill's jawbone.

"I love you too." Jill gasped, her voice hitching as they began.

~ * * ~

Jill collapsed onto Chris. He brushed a sweaty strand of hair back out of her face.

"God I've missed you." He said.

"You don't know the half of it." Jill answered.

She rolled off of him, exhausted. She then turned to face him, staring up at him with half-lidded eyes. He placed his arms around her, pulling her closer as she drifted off to sleep. He stayed awake though, watching her, like he did after they fell asleep on her couch after Spencer Estate. He stayed awake, lost in his thoughts, unaware of the hours passing him by, until Jill awoke.

"Chris?" She mumbled wearily.

"Hmm?"

"What time is it?"

He looked at the digital clock. "Around four in the morning."

"Have you been to sleep yet?" She asked, concerned.

"No. I've been watching you."

Jill smiled into his chest. "Why don't you get some rest?"

He kissed her forehead, "I will."

And the couple drifted off to sleep. A deep sleep, one without nightmares.

~ * * ~

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Author's Note: It's been awhile, but of course school got the better of me. I updated Winter's Adventure, and I apologize for the long wait. Thanks for all of your reviews on that, and please review this one. As you see the chapter is extremely long, and the ones that follow it will be also. So…hopefully the waits won't be as long, but don't expect an update everyday.

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	2. Target Practice

**__**

Corruption

Disclaimer: Resident Evil and anything associated with it does not belong to me, the story does.

Chapter Two: Target Practice

Sunlight streamed into the living room and kitchen of the house. It slowly filtered into the hallway, slipping under the spaces of doors. More rays proceeded in through the pulled curtains. Most of it was blocked though, either way, it went unnoticed by Claire and Leon. The two lay in each other's arms. Leon's mouth was slightly open, his hair wild and messy. Claire had a small smile on her lips and her hair was spread on the pillow behind her.

The two were a couple. This had happened after Claire had told Leon what happened on Rockfort with Steve Burnside, and then confessed why she felt guilty. Leon admitted his feelings and it was simple as that. 

The comfort between the lovers was soon interrupted, as Barry began knocking on the door to the room. Leon rolled over and looked at the door.

"What?" He mumbled groggily.

"Breakfast." Barry replied.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Leon mumbled.

He heard Barry begin walking down the hall to the next room.

Leon kissed along Claire's neck, "Wake up."

She swatted him away, and buried her head further into the pillow. 

Leon laughed. He sat up and rolled Claire over. He began tickling her. Claire woke up laughing and kicking.

"Stop!" She shrieked in between giggles.

Leon lay down next to her, and kissed her forehead.

"Breakfast."

Claire got up, heading toward the clothes piled on the floor. Noticing they were still slightly damp, she turned to Leon. "Do you have anything I could wear?"

"Um…yeah take your pick." He motioned toward the closet.

After about five minutes of Claire rifling through Leon's selection, she decided on a pair of black nylon track pants and a faded cotton t-shirt. 

"So…" Leon mumbled.

"Well, the pants are a little big…" To emphasize this, she pulled at the waist to show the gap, "…but the shirt's comfortable."

"Either way you look sexy in my clothes." Leon said, grabbing a sweatshirt off the floor.

Claire giggled and opened the door to head down the stairs.

~ * * ~

Barry rapped on the door to Jill's room. He heard water shut off, and footsteps tread over to the door. Chris pulled it open; toothbrush hanging out of his mouth, boxers and a S.T.A.R.S. t-shirt that belonged to him that Jill had, wrinkled beyond belief. His hair was wet from the shower, and greatly disheveled. 

"Good morning." Chris greeted cheerily.

"Mornin' Redfield. Where's Jill?" Barry asked.

The shower turned on answering his question.

Barry nodded, "Got a pretty nasty bruise there on your jaw." 

"Well, I got my ass kicked by Wesker." Chris muttered, taking the toothbrush out of his mouth.

"Yeah, you told me on the phone. I held a meeting after you'd called and told everyone. Becca and Jill were pretty much in shock. Leon was crushed after I told the story about Steve."

"Speaking of him, I need to having a little 'talk' with him." Chris replied.

Barry shook his head, "I already told him if he pulled anything, you'd murder him."

Chris laughed.

"Anyway, I just came up to wake everyone and say breakfast was ready."

Chris nodded and Barry left. Chris pushed the door open to the bathroom. Steam filtered out and he walked over to the sink, spitting out the toothpaste and rinsing his mouth out. He took out a razor from one of the drawers and squirted the mint green shaving cream into his hands. He smeared it on his face, careful as he edged around the left jaw. He began small, slow strokes, ridding himself of the day old stubble. Chris watched in the mirror, focusing on shaving, and watching Jill's form through the almost opaque shower door. He smiled, rinsing the remaining cream off, and cleaning up. He found a travel bottle of after-shave and splashed on himself. He winced as it stung, irritating the bruise and few nicks he had received. 

Jill shut off the shower, and wrapped the soft towel around her body. She stepped out holding the towel loosely around her body, and smiled as Chris turned to her. She frowned slightly as she saw the now uncovered bruise. She cautiously ran a finger over it.

"What happened?"

"Wesker." He replied.

Jill planted a soft kiss on it. "Better?" 

"Much." He replied.

She began to get dressed and the two headed down the stairs hand in hand.

~ * * ~

Carlos and Rebecca were already in the kitchen, putting out plates for themselves. Chris, Jill, Leon, and Claire met out in the foyer toward the kitchen. Chris cast a wavering eye to Leon and Claire until Jill muttered something about "leave them alone". 

"You two are up early." Leon remarked to Carlos and Rebecca.

"We helped cook." Rebecca replied cheerily.

"Wait, Carlos cooked. Great, get the fire extinguishers, our mouths will be on fire." Jill sat down.

"I'll have you know I'm a very good cook." Carlos retorted. He looked like his normal sarcastic self, until Chris sat down, next to Jill. He slid his arm around her nonchalantly.

The group got up to serve themselves, and made small conversation while Barry took his shower and got dressed for the day ahead.

"I remember the day when you and Jill were fighting, and you all had night shift together," Rebecca started. "We all had bets going to see if the night guard would find you had killed each other, or if you would be asleep in the weapon's locker." 

Jill's cheeks turned red.

"Wait, what?" Claire asked, curious as to why Chris and Jill were both blushing. "Weapon's locker?"

"Oh, you wouldn't want to hear. Not a very good visual." Rebecca replied.

"Yes, anything to embarrass him."

"Jill and Chris liked to use the weapon's locker to their pleasure, basically." Rebecca explained.

Claire's mouth fell open, Leon began laughing, and Carlos smiled slightly.

Chris buried his head in his hands.

"Becky I'm going to kill you." Jill mumbled.

"As if the noises coming from your room last night weren't enough." She remarked.

"Hey, it could've been Claire and Leon." Jill said, quickly turning the heat from herself and Chris.

The group turned to the two whose tongues were all ready with excuses.

"Okay, how about we change the subject." Chris suggested, again glaring over at Leon.

"What are you delinquents talking about now?" Barry questioned.

"Nothing." The group chorused.

Barry raised his eyebrows, "If you kids are done, we need to start some basic training, I've got a few targets set up in the yard…"

~* * ~

"Chris, I know you favor the rifles." Barry handed Chris a sleek rifle.

Chris took it, running his hand along the steel butt. As Chris turned, Leon saw himself come into aim. Leon jumped back, causing Chris to chuckle.

"Don't worry, I won't shoot you unless you break Claire's heart."

Leon let out a nervous laugh.

"Loaded?" Chris asked, aiming at the blue target in front of him.

"You know it." Barry folded his arms over his chest.

Chris aimed and pulled the trigger quickly. A loud crack sounded. The bullet seared through the air to the short distance of the target. Chris' arms shook slightly as the gun recoiled. Barry jogged over to examine the bullet hole. It was a perfect hit in the chest.

"S.T.A.R.S. marksman still got it."

~ * * ~

"So when exactly are we thinking about heading back to Paris?" Carlos asked, loading a Colt.

"Week or two." Chris replied, firing another shot from his rifle.

"A week or two? You're fucking crazy!" Carlos yelled.

"Maybe so, but we can't just sit around forever. They won't expect an attack so soon after Claire and me just got back." Chris responded.

"We need more time though…" Carlos started.

"In this situation, time is something we don't have." Chris replied somberly.

Carlos gave a weak nod in reply to Chris' unfortunate statement.

"Besides, the sooner we bring them down, sooner we get free of this hell and can all get to know each other among better terms than this company giving us something in common." Chris added.

"Yeah, hey look I'm sorry about last night." Carlos ventured.

"I should be the one apologizing, I mean, I should be thanking you for saving Jill's life. She means the world to me and if I would've lost her, I just…" Chris trailed off softly.

"Hey, no problem, she saved my life a few times too." Carlos admitted quickly, seemingly embarrassed to admit that Jill had helped him. "Besides, I was a little bit tired, I had some to drink, and it was just a lot to take in." 

Chris chuckled slightly, "Jill told me you had taken some interest in Becca over there."

"Yeah, I think I really like her, I mean not like I thought I did Jill, but like _really_ like her." Carlos replied.

"Go for it then, you know damn well we may not live through this, now go over there and ask her out." Chris joked.

Carlos shrugged and strode over the short distance to the target Rebecca was aiming at.

~ * * ~

"Hey Leon, can I talk to you for a few minutes?" Chris asked, trying his best not to sound threatening,

"Um…seeing as I probably don't have a choice, then yeah sure." Leon replied, setting down the Sigpro he was holding.

Claire shot an angry and threatening look at her brother, and Leon didn't know whether he should run to Chris for protection, or run from Chris to keep from being murdered.

Once the duo was inside, Chris began his speech.

"Look, I'm not going to interrogate you on what you two did, and I'm not going to ask you for criminal records or anything like that…but please God tell me you can handle her and you're going to be good to her. The last thing she needs is her heart broken after all the shit we've been through and what we're going through now." 

"I hope I can handle her, and I do honestly love her. I know and feel part of what she's been through, and I wanna be there for her until the end. Even if that end is next week, trust me Chris." Leon pleaded.

Chris stared at him, giving him a look into the dark hazel eyes the man possessed. They were honest and trustworthy.

He extended his hand, "I trust you Leon, I think you're a great guy, and I know you're going to be a great soldier in this war."

Leon shook his hand and the two walked out of the house and back on to the field where the rest of the team turned around to face them.

"What? Is this how you guys are going to be when we're fighting, easily distracted by something?" Chris asked the team playfully.

Jill strode up to Chris, "Glad to see you didn't slaughter him."

"I actually like him, he seems like a good guy." 

Jill arched her eyebrows. "That's a shocker."

Chris caught her arm as she began to walk off. "How so?"

She laughed softly, "Do you not recall about a year ago when Bec, Brad, me, and you were working night shift and you were talking to your sister on the computer? It was nearly two in the morning and she happened to mention she had to go, she was meeting her boyfriend. You flipped out and called her dorm and gave her a lecture for nearly an hour, until her room mates and herself got bored with you and hung up."

Chris laughed at the memory, "Not my fault I'm her older brother, I've got to protect her." His look became more serious and his voice dropped a little lower. "I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to her when mom and dad died. Look how well I've done. She almost got killed trying to find me, I have to…"

Jill placed her fingers to his lips, silencing him. "I know Chris, but you've got to let her breathe some. She is nine-teen, she can handle herself."

He nodded, "Anyway, let's go spy and Carlos and Becca, I gave him a little push forward to make a move."

With that, the couple rushed off to watch the young man make his move.

~ * * ~

"Hey Bec, you got a second?" Carlos asked.

"Yeah, sure." The young medic replied.

"Well you know, I was wondering if you know…after all this is over…if you would want to…uh…" Carlos stopped and took a breath. "Alright, let's start over. Hi, I'm Carlos and I really like you, do you want to go out sometime."

Rebecca laughed, "Yes, Carlos, I'll go out with you."

Carlos nodded and took her hand as they walked toward a trail in the woods. They made small talk, sharing memories, talking about the battle about to go down, and what they were going to do after it was over. Without even knowing it, they were both falling in love. 

~ * * ~

"So…"

"So what?"

"So what did my brother say?" Claire persisted.

"He just asked if I would be there for you and how I would treat you, and then we got on the subject of Umbrella and he told me thought I would be a great soldier and he liked me." Leon explained nonchalantly.

"Wait, he said he liked you?" Claire said.

"Yeah."

"Wow, that's a first. He found out I had a boyfriend when I was in college and went nearly psycho. I mean he lectured me for like an hour, until my room mates and me got bored and hung up on him." Claire replied.

Leon laughed. "Well I guess I got that charm…" 

"Don't even start." Claire silenced him.

Leon chuckled, placing his arm around Claire and walking on to the trail Carlos and Rebecca had just followed.

~ * * ~

Barry, Chris, and Jill sat down in the kitchen to begin the dreaded task of mapping out their plans for attack. They sat down at a large table in the study, and looked down at the maps, grids, notes, and printed facts about the headquarters.

"Well, when should we go?" Jill asked.

"We have to make it soon, by two weeks." Chris replied.

"I think we should go in a week, get adjusted to Paris, sneak ourselves in a few times, and then make our move." Barry explained.

Chris and Jill nodded.

"I hate this." Chris mumbled.

"Doesn't everybody?" Jill replied.

"Everybody doesn't go through this." Chris retorted.

"Yeah, but look at it this way, we'll kick their ass, and they'll be gone. Then we'll be able to put this behind and get on with a normal life." Barry stated.

"Well somewhat normal." Jill added, placing her hand on Chris'.

He squeezed it and nodded in response as the gang came running through the door laughing.

"What the…" Barry grumbled.

"Nothing. We were just racing." Carlos replied, jumping onto the couch. His personality was a lot different, and he was definitely more cheerful.

Chris smiled, sharing a knowing look with Jill. She returned the look.

"What are you old folks doing?" Claire asked, sitting down next to Chris.

"Well, going over infiltration plans for the facility." Chris mumbled, scanning over a few files.

"Did we decide on when we were leaving?" Carlos asked.

"Yeah, Barry suggested we leave soon, maybe next week or in a few days, and then get familiar, then go for it." Jill explained.

"That sounds good." Leon stated.

The remnants of the group nodded in agreement.

~ * * ~

"So what do we do tonight?" Rebecca asked, sitting down next to Carlos.

"I don't know…how about we relax?" Chris suggested.

"God you're lazy." Claire mumbled.

Chris shot her a look.

"Here now." Barry started.

"Well, we could go out to eat or something." Leon offered.

"Yeah that sounds good, I saw a Mexican Restaurant coming back form the store earlier." Carlos said.

"No more Mexican, you've cooked the last few nights." Rebecca lay back.

"How about we let Barry choose?" Jill said, eager to stop before a fight started.

"Okay." Barry agreed.

~ * * ~

Chris hopped down the steps in a carefree manner. He was dressed in dark blue jeans, and a black v-neck sweater, with a white undershirt. Jill followed behind him in dark jeans and baby blue sweater. She laughed as he jumped the last few steps and almost slammed into a table.

"A little hyper aren't we?" 

Chris turned around quickly and ducked low. Jill barely had time to give him a quizzical look before she was being swept over his shoulder and sat down on the couch. She blinked a few times, and laughed as he attempted to dive onto the couch next to her. He landed, and sat up quickly.

"Stop, you're going to mess up your clothes." Jill laughed again. She began brushing off invisible dust and straightening wrinkles, Chris couldn't see.

He caught her hand, and Jill caught the small twinkle in his eye. They both leaned forward, Jill chin lifting up slowly, and met in a kiss. 

Leon and Claire came running down the stairs in time to see Jill and Chris jump back from each other.

"Hey Claire," Leon mumbled, "wanna go get something to eat in the kitchen?" 

"No, we're about to go out to eat." She turned down his excuse.

"Um, right." He muttered.

"Are you two just going to stand over there and argue or what? We've already stopped kissing, so either get your asses over here or go get Carlos, Bec, and Barry so we can go." Chris called.

Claire and Leon strode over, to where Jill and Chris were, and plopped down on the couth opposite. Claire straightened the jeans she wore, and the white turtleneck she was wearing. She then moved to Leon, and began brushing off his khaki pants and black shirt in the same fashion Jill had done.

Chris began to ask why they had the habit of fixing their clothes, and then brushing off everything invisible on the men, but he caught his tongue. Jill and Claire were in the same room, and he didn't know if he could handle and argument with the two.

"You kids ready yet?" Barry's low voice called as he was coming down the stairs. Lighter footsteps followed, and then slightly heavier steps came after that.

Barry headed over to the door to grab his keys as Carlos and Rebecca followed over to the foyer. They all turned seeing the group staring.

"What?" Barry asked. He then looked down at himself, Carlos and Rebecca, then at the other four.

"Well, you let me pick, I never said you had to dress up." He added.

Clad in his jeans and flannel shirt he walked out the door. Carlos and Rebecca followed, Rebecca in a soft purple dress and Carlos in black pants, and dark green shirt, and his blazer went out the door. The rest of the group followed behind.

~ * * ~

"That has got to be the best food I've tasted in a long time." Claire said, kicking her shoes off and sitting down on the couch.

"I agree with that _chica_." Carlos replied.

"Although you all did look out of place all dressed up." Barry said, hanging his coat up.

"Well, we didn't know you were taking us to like a country bar." Rebecca pointed out.

"Although we should have figured." Chris said.

"Yeah, any of you remember where he used to eat everyday back when we were in S.T.A.R.S.? We could never get him to come with us. He always had to go to that little café where they had like chicken wings and stuff." Jill laughed.

"Hey, it was good food." Barry retorted.

"Well I don't know about you, but I'm going to bed." Leon looked over at Claire, who had drifted off to sleep already.

"Leon, I think she's _actually_ going to sleep tonight." Carlos remarked.

Leon and Chris shot glares.

Carlos sank down behind Rebecca.

Leon walked over and grabbed Claire's waist, picking her up and slinging her over his shoulder, the couple headed up the stairs.

"Yeah, I'm going to turn in." Barry stated, getting up and lumbering up the stairs.

Jill and Chris looked at each other. They said their "goodnights" and headed up the stairs.

"You tired?" Carlos asked.

Rebecca gazed up at him. "No."

He went into the kitchen and rummaged around in the junk drawers. He came back out with a deck of cards. 

He shot her a grin. "Ever play poker?"

~ * * ~

As the twilight faded into night, the group tried not to think about the trip ahead, and the battle coming up. 

Claire and Leon were in a deep sleep, not to awake for awhile. Chris and Jill were half-asleep in each other's arms. Barry was already snoring, dreaming of his wife and girls. Carlos and Rebecca were in a heated poker game, betting on drinks they found in the refrigerator. Either way, they would eventually all drift off.

~ * * ~

Author's Note: Well, it's been awhile. Er, school the creation of the devil. Anyway, Spring Break has helped some with this chapter, and maybe I can get another one out soon. Sorry for the long wait, and here goes by thanks to the reviewers: 

Lady..dynamite: I can't exactly tell if Wesker is going to show up, sorry that would be giving away future chapters, but Claire and Wesker are definitely not going to be paired up. Sorry I stick to Leon/Claire, Chris/Jill, Carlos/Rebecca. Thanks for the review!

Santiago: Thanks for reviewing. I didn't exactly know if the story was going to be good, but thanks for telling me it was.

Dale: Hey! Thanks for reviewing. There has been some Leon and Claire and Leon, but I promise to get more in. Thanks for telling me the way to begin the story was good. There were like five drafts of the first chapter, but this on worked. If you're going to stick with my story until the end, I need to get chapters out faster. Please update your story, I can't wait for the end, and then a sequel.

Dragon: Thanks, I hope it does turn out to be a great story.

Anyway, thanks for all the reviews and hope you enjoyed!


	3. Pack Your Bags

Corruption  
  
Disclaimer: Resident Evil and anything associated with it does not belong to me, the story does.  
  
Chapter Three: Pack Your Bags  
  
".should we?"  
  
"I don't know, there's one leaving today."  
  
"Yeah, we could easily go get an early start."  
  
"Okay, then it's settled. You all go wake the others, I'll get the tickets."  
  
"Right."  
  
That was all Leon, Claire, Carlos, and Rebecca caught of Jill, Chris, and Barry's conversation as they walked out in the dining room.  
  
Jill and Chris turned the corner to head up the stairs, almost venturing into a collision with the other four.  
  
"No need to wake us up we're already up." Rebecca stepped back.  
  
"Good, now go pack. We're leaving today." Chris said, heading up to his and Jill's room.  
  
"Yeah, uh.why?" Leon asked.  
  
"Because we are. Why not?" Jill replied.  
  
"Well, it would be fun to leave now I guess. Boston is kind of boring." Claire said.  
  
"Then again.we leave sooner, we fight sooner." Carlos stated.  
  
"We leave sooner, we fight sooner, we live sooner." Rebecca retorted.  
  
~ * * ~  
  
"Come on you guys! We can catch the one thirty flight if we can get out of here!" Barry's annoyed voice called.  
  
Chris' own frustrated voice called down, "We're hurrying, how the hell are you done so fast?"  
  
"I never unpacked."  
  
"Well some of us did!" Rebecca yelled.  
  
There were assorted muffles that Barry couldn't make out, and then a thud.  
  
"Son of a bitch!" Chris' was yelling.  
  
"What the hell?" Barry grumbled.  
  
Then there was laughter so Barry figured nothing to serious had happened, except for the fact Chris was probably in a bad mood.  
  
"COME ON!" Barry bellowed.  
  
Six people came pouring down the stairs and flying out the front door.  
  
"Works every time." Barry laughed to himself, following the others.  
  
~ * * ~  
  
The group sat in the large van. They had decided to take Barry's vehicle since the other two were small cars. Barry and Chris sat in the front, while the girls took the middle seat and the other guys took the very back. Most of the ride was in silence, except for the off and on arguing of Barry Chris over which route would be the fastest way to the airport.  
  
"Alright you two, shut up or let someone else drive and navigate." Claire said.  
  
The two were silenced until they arrived at the airport.  
  
Barry and Chris were left to carry the luggage while Claire, Leon, Jill, Rebecca, and Carlos checked their tickets, and waited impatiently as Chris and Barry checked the luggage.  
  
"Flight 163 to Paris, France has now arrived, all passengers please move to gate seventeen." The low rumble over the intercom signaled.  
  
"Finally." Carlos grumbled.  
  
~ * * ~  
  
The group found the plane oddly empty and moved to their seats. Chris, Jill, and Barry took one row, Claire and Leon took the row behind them, and Carlos and Rebecca took two seats behind them. Barry took out a pair of headphones, and turned them up as loud as he could to block out the conversations of the younger group. They could hear just a faint sound of acoustic guitars and a very deep voice with a hint of country twang in it. Eventually Barry drifted off into a deep sleep.  
  
"I don't know how he stands that stuff." Jill muttered.  
  
"He's always listened to it though." Chris pointed out.  
  
Claire kicked the seat in front of her, causing Chris to lean forward slightly. He turned, shooting her and angry look. "What?"  
  
She smiled and waved before kicking the chair again.  
  
"And how many hours do I have left of this?" Chris mumbled.  
  
Jill gripped his hand loosely, "A long damn time."  
  
"Hey Claire, what do you say when we get to Paris, we go shopping?" Rebecca suggested.  
  
A look of joy spread across her features, "Sure, I saw a few places while Chris and me were there."  
  
"Good, tell Jill."  
  
Claire leaned forward, "Jill, me and Bec wanna go shopping when we get to France, what do you say?"  
  
Jill looked at Chris, "Why not? I won't have to carry the bags."  
  
Claire laughed and leaned back, nodding to Rebecca.  
  
~ * * ~  
  
When they exited the airport, foreign languages filtered into their ears. Only Rebecca and Claire had taken French in school, and they barely remembered any of it.  
  
"I think we go this way. You got the slip for the rental right?" Rebecca motioned.  
  
"Yeah, right here." Barry handed it to her.  
  
Rebecca brisk to the cashier, and quickly began speaking and gesturing to the others. The woman at the desk smiled and handed her a receipt and a set of keys. Rebecca came back over and informed them where to go to pick up luggage and their car.  
  
"I think we can officially consider her our translator." Claire stated.  
  
"I thought you took French in school?" Chris asked.  
  
"Yeah, but I only know enough to get by, I can't carry on a full conversation or anything."  
  
"Well, two is better than one." Leon said.  
  
Once again Chris and Barry were stuck with the luggage while the group rushed off to pull the car around. The car turned out to be some sort of SUV, but it only held five people. After many rounds of rock-paper- scissors, Claire and Leon were forced to ride in the back with the bags.  
  
~ * * ~  
  
"What exactly is this place?" Carlos asked, looking at the old brick building in front of them.  
  
"Our home for the next few weeks." Barry replied, fishing for keys in his pocket.  
  
The house was large, but it was made of decaying bricks that had lost their burgundy color and were turning a burnt brown color. The wooden door was painted a dark, almost blood red, but the paint was peeling and showing the faded white under it. The doorknob and knocker were rusting, and the porch looked termite ridden.  
  
Needless to say, it looked the least bit inviting.  
  
They opted to explore the house before bringing their belongings in.  
  
Upon entering the house, they found the carpet to be worn and stained. It appeared to have originally been a dark gray color, but had now turned to a brown color. The walls had a few holes in their olive exterior and were peeling as the door was. The stairs creaked, and the banister appeared to lean inward, making the hall narrower than what it already was.  
  
The doors looked ready to fall off their hinges, and the locks didn't lock. There were only two bedrooms, and one bathroom. The bathroom was relatively small, just a generic sink, shower, and toilet. The kitchen was small with a refrigerator, one sink, and a stove. To top it off, the downstairs was abnormally cold, not pleasing since France was in its winter.  
  
"You call this our house? This isn't a house, it's a shit hole!" Claire yelled.  
  
"For once I agree." Chris said.  
  
"We've got bigger problems, who gets the bedrooms?" Carlos asked.  
  
"Well I should get one." Barry said.  
  
"Why?" Rebecca questioned.  
  
"I paid for the proclaimed shit hole."  
  
The other six rushed upstairs, with Claire winning the sudden race.  
  
"So it's decided, Barry gets a room, and me and Leon get one." Claire claimed.  
  
~ * * ~  
  
It was already getting to be night, and the temperatures were drastically dropping. Leon and Claire moved into their bedroom.  
  
Leon fell back on the bed. "At least the bed's soft."  
  
"Really now?" Claire asked.  
  
She flew back on the bed, laughing as Leon grabbed her. The couple laughed a little while longer, then a silence befell.  
  
"Claire?" Leon asked.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"I love you."  
  
"I love you too Leon," She paused, noticing the softness in his voice. "What's wrong?"  
  
He forced a smirk, but it didn't reach his usually bright, active emerald eyes.  
  
"Tell me Leon."  
  
"I'm just.I need you need to know that I love you."  
  
Claire felt the small stinging, tears were coming to her eyes. "You're worried."  
  
"Yeah, but shouldn't I be?"  
  
"Of course, but I need you to know something."  
  
"I know you love me Claire."  
  
"Yes I do, very much, but we'll make it through."  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"I don't think God would let us get this far only to let us die."  
  
Leon took what she had just said in. It made so much sense, Claire was right. He kissed her softly, and it didn't take long for her to return the favor. Her hands found his, and they intertwined as Leon pulled Claire on top of him. She moaned softly, feeling his soft lips caressing her neck and move down along her collarbone.  
  
Leon's hands found the bottom of her nightshirt, and began pulling it up and off of Claire. She felt the coldness of the air hit her bare skin, and she pulled herself closer to Leon, selfishly finding the heat. Leon pulled his shirt off, and Claire's nails raked against the skin of his back, he realized she was fully unclothed, and he was still wearing his boxers. Claire already discovered this, and began to grab at thin material, her nails raked softly against him. He unintentionally let out a moan, and Claire immediately knew what she had done, and she let out a laugh.  
  
"You're evil you know that?" Leon muttered.  
  
"I'll take that as a compliment." Claire replied, ripping the boxers off of him.  
  
Both were caught up in the raging passion, not caring that the door didn't lock, not caring the bed appeared to be older than the year they were in, only they mattered at the moment.  
  
Claire bit her lip, or buried in Leon's neck as he thrust, to keep from screaming which would lead to mockery in the morning. Leon's breath began to quicken rapidly, the inhales and exhales bringing them closer together.  
  
Someone thudded up the stairs, and Leon and Claire could feel their presence close to the door. Self-consciously, they grew quieter, until the intruder passed. Claire dug her nails into Leon's back. They left small marks causing Leon to hiss slightly.  
  
"Sorry." Claire gasped.  
  
Leon kissed her forcefully as an answer. Claire tensed as she felt she was reaching her point, absorbing herself into Leon's kiss to stop from screaming.  
  
~ * * ~  
  
"Scooby Doo? Don't you people have any taste in movies?" Chris mumbled.  
  
Jill sat down on the pallet next to Chris, pulling most of his blankets onto her.  
  
"Well it's the only channel that will come in, unless you want to watch some sort of French Cuisine channel." Rebecca answered.  
  
It didn't take long for Chris to realize that Scooby and the Mystery Inc. Gang weren't speaking English.  
  
"Isn't there like a channel in English? Like we've got Spanish channels in America." Carlos began.  
  
"We don't have French channels, so why should they have English over here?" Rebecca argued.  
  
Carlos furrowed his brow.  
  
"You know you're incredibly sexy when you do that." Rebecca said.  
  
"Oh God." Chris got up, letting out an over exaggerated sigh.  
  
"Chris, they're in love-"  
  
"Jill, so are we." Chris said, going up the stairs.  
  
Seeing he was getting incredibly close to Leon and Claire's door, Jill called up, "And so are Leon and Claire!"  
  
Chris jumped back with a disgusted look on his face.  
  
"You should have stayed down here. You wouldn't have heard what you didn't want to." Jill mocked.  
  
"All I heard was Barry snoring, but that doesn't mean Leon and Claire aren't." Chris caught his tongue, ".in love."  
  
Jill giggled and peered into the living room. Carlos and Rebecca were nowhere in sight. She figured they'd moved to their "room" if you could call it that, located behind the table in the dining room. She pulled Chris down onto the padded blankets, and turned off the t.v. They lay there, close to trap any body heat that could escape, and began to talk.  
  
~ * * ~  
  
Author's Note: Again, sorry for the long wait. Er.school.but summer break is almost here. Anyway, hope the chapter was satisfying. Thanks for the reviews.Dale, you finished! Glad to see the sequel got up soon. I'd recommend the story to any Leon and Claire fans, enough Leon and Claire interaction in this chapter for you? Hope to have the next chapter up soon. Thanks for the reviews and to any who is sticking with this story! 


	4. The Fire Ignites

****

Corruption

Chapter Four: The Fire Ignites

Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil or anything associated with it. I do, however, own the story.

"Remind me never to agree to go anywhere with you again." The exasperated voice muttered.

"Chris, you never agreed." Jill said.

"How did I not, I went didn't I?"

"You never agreed though, technicality."

"I never would have went if you hadn't of…" Chris trailed off, realizing there was an audience.

"If I hadn't of what?" Jill asked, casting a glare.

Realizing it was pointless to argue, Chris sighed and spoke, "Nothing dear, it was my own fault. I never agreed."

"Thank you." Jill said sweetly.

"He is so whipped." Leon muttered,

"Leon, come here!" Claire called from upstairs.

"Coming!" And Leon was gone upstairs.

Carlos chuckled and plopped down on the worn couch. The day had been eventful, _too _eventful. After days of putting it off, the girls had finally won and forced Chris, Leon, and him to go shopping. Of course they had protested, coming up with excuses that had surprised themselves. Chris was the first to give in, and Carlos didn't know, and didn't want to know, how Jill had eventually persuaded him to go. Claire and Rebecca had then built off of Chris and Jill going, and won out against Leon and Carlos. They hadn't used any _techniques_, they were just both tired and gave in. 

__

'I am not whipped.' Carlos thought to himself.

Although Rebecca and him had only been together a few days, he still was keeping his pride.

__

'I am not whipped.' He thought again.

"Carlos, help me unpack this!" Rebecca's voice drifted into the room he was in.

He found himself begin to rise up without thinking.

__

'Or am I?' 

He found himself laughing as he jumped to his feet for more carrying.

~ * * ~

"Ugh, I am never moving again." Leon said into his pillow. 

"I don't believe _that_." Claire laughed.

"Neither do I." Leon replied.

Claire laughed and began going through the bags of clothes that had been carried by Leon for the past four hours. 

"You need to try these on, you know model?" Claire said pulling out piles of clothes that belonged to Leon.

He groaned, "No I don't, they're just gonna look like clothes on me."

"Yes you do, I want to see them on you." Claire retorted.

The tone in her voice was contest to no arguing, so Leon groaned and moaned, letting Claire know he didn't want to do anything. 

"Which one first?"

Claire looked at the stacks of clothes, "This."

Leon entered the bathroom, mumbling something before slamming the door. Claire giggled. She knew she had him. If he would get up after four hours of non-stop shopping for something like modeling clothes, he really loved her. The door opened shaking her from her thoughts.

"Happy?" He questioned before walking to the end of the room, doing a spin, and walking back.

She looked at the dark jeans, they were baggy, and the ends of the legs stayed just above the edge of his heel. Unlike her brother's jeans, which were always baggy and drug the ground, Leon's fit him nicely. The fleece sweater accented his arms nicely, leaving Claire nearly speechless.

Leon sat down, pulling of the jeans and sweater, and tossing them to the side.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a nap." Leon then straightened the black shirt he was wearing, adjusted his boxers, and wrapped his body in the sheets and blankets.

Claire picked the cast clothes and folded them. She lay them carefully on the floor next to all the other clothes, and climbed into the bed next to Leon. He wrapped his arms around her, kissed her softly, and fell into the warm sleep.

~ * * ~

"Chris, help me with these bags." Jill ordered.

"But no…but I carried all…but…" He started to protest, then saw the glare Jill was giving him. "Yes ma'am." 

He went to the van, pulled out the various bags, and lumbered back to he house. 

"So this is helping you with the bags, me carrying them all?" 

"Yeah."

Chris shook his head, and crossed into the living room, dumping the bags in the corner.

"Your welcome." 

"Thank you." Jill replied, walking up to him. She placed her arms around his neck, rose on her toes, and kissed him. 

"Um…sorry to interrupt but it's getting late and I was planning on getting prepared to go hunting tonight." Barry said, keeping his head turned from the couple.

Chris and Jill pulled back, their cheeks tinted red. 

"Okay, I'll go tell the others." Chris offered. He started off in a jog, going up the stairs, and out of sight.

"He really loves you, you know that?" Barry said.

Jill turned a little surprised. "Well I really love him."

"I know, believe me, I've known that since the day you joined S.T.A.R.S. and Chris offered to show you around town that night. I'm just saying, I don't want anything to happen to either one of you. Despite anything, please don't let him do anything stupid. He won't listen to me, and he won't listen to Claire, he will listen to you, now if he tries anything like going off by himself when this battle starts, set him straight." Barry turned and exited the house to go get Rebecca and Carlos who were on the back deck.

Jill shook her head. "Let's hope I don't have to."

~ * * ~

"Everyone ready?" Chris asked.

"Yeah." Leon laughed.

"What is so funny?" Chris muttered.

"Nothing, you just look like a psychotic robber with that mask on." Leon replied.

"_Ha ha_." Chris muttered sarcastically.

"Can we just go damn it?" Claire asked impatient.

"Yes get out the door." Barry replied sternly leading Chris, Claire, Jill, Leon, Rebecca, and Carlos outside.

"Now what exactly are we doing?" Carlos asked, dodging the mask Chris threw at Leon.

"Just exploring the premises around the facility." Barry answered.

"That's it? Then why so many weapons?" 

"You worked for Umbrella, there were guards around right?" Barry said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Oh."

The van rumbled down the quiet road, creating a disturbance. Barry turned into deserted parking lot, and shut the ignition off. 

"Everyone stays together, no one separates."

They followed Barry's lead. He seemed to be the most familiar with the route. The horizon loomed in front of the group. Trees, tall grasses, and the undeniable outline of the Headquarters was the scenery. It was dead calm around the fences, and they were afraid to move, fearing the slightest exhale would be equivalent to an explosion. 

Chris picked a stick up and threw it at the fence slowly. It hit, and caused silent fireworks display.

"Electric." He muttered.

They turned away, following the metallic wall around. Leon and Carlos snapped pictures of the facility from different angles. The film would be used as a map of the grounds.

"Look there's the main entrance." Jill whispered.

Claire nodded. "We can't exactly waltz through the front door though."

"What about this door?" Rebecca called.

She was pointing at a red door with _STORAGE_ inscribed.

"Possibly." Chris answered.

"Well we've got pictures I think we can leave now." Barry said.

"What?" The group hissed.

"I said we've got pictures, we can leave now."

"So…wait. You drug us out here for a thirty minute hike?" Leon asked.

Barry shrugged.

"Don't question him, no matter how senile his ways, he knows what he's doing." Jill muttered.

~ * * ~

After a quiet ride back home, the group had become victim to sleep. Most went to bed, except for Chris, Jill, Barry, and Claire. 

"Barry, I need to talk to you in private." Chris said.

Jill looked over at Chris. He returned the _'I'll tell you later' _look.

The two men exited out the back door, and sat down on the decaying deck.

"What is it?" Barry asked.

"Why'd you do that tonight?"

"Do what?"

Chris leaned against the railing, "Take us out there for like a half-hour, then just leave."

"Well, we had all the information we needed." Barry explained.

"Bullshit. You know this takes preciseness. You're method tonight was fucking reckless." Chris argued, agitated by Barry's calmness.

"Preciseness and reckless." Barry said.

"What?"

"Two words with very different meanings, antonyms."

"Barry what the hell are you talking about?" 

"I'm talking about you Chris. You're a good leader, and what I did tonight is what you've done in the past. You've been _reckless_ when _you_ needed to be _precise_. Now I don't want to do shit unless I can trust that you aren't going to do something stupid. This isn't a one man battle Chris, we're _all_ in this _together_." Barry retorted.

Chris clenched his jaw shut. "You're right."

Barry's eyes widened. "Did Christopher Redfield just admit he was wrong?"

"Yes he did, and I won't do anything stupid. I've got people to look after now, Claire and Jill. If something were to happen…"

"We're going to make damn sure it doesn't." 

~ * * ~

Jill and Claire pulled their ears away from the wall, smiling. Barry had done everything on purpose to prove something to Chris. The conversation had proved Barry had a big effect on Chris, and so had Jill and Claire.

"So we're the two most important women in his life." Claire stated.

"Unfortunately…yes." Jill joked.

The girls couldn't contain their giggles as Barry and Chris walked into the house.

"And what is so funny?" Chris asked, giving questioning glares.

"Nothing, I was just telling Jill about the time you were fourteen and stole dad's car on a dare." Claire replied quickly.

"Uh…yeah." Jill nodded.

Chris assumed they had been talking about something on a completely different note, but decided to play along. He was tired and wasn't in the mood for arguing with either of the women.

"Well, I'm going to bed." Barry announced.

"Goodnight Barry." The remaining three called.

"I'd better go to bed too." Claire said, standing up, careful to be quiet as she crossed the living room. Rebecca and Carlos were sprawled out on the floor asleep.

"Well then, so Claire filling you in on my childhood dares?" 

"Yeah." Jill drawled.

"Really, because wouldn't be kind of hard to hear with one ear pressed against the wall?"

Jill shot him an astonished glare.

"There's a mirror there. I could see yours' and Claire's reflections." Chris laughed, pulling the black sweater over his head and falling onto the rumpled blankets.

Jill looked from the cracked mirror, to the window, seeing how Chris managed to catch her and Claire.

"So did you really steal your dad's car on a dare?" Jill asked, lying down next to Chris.

He immediately wrapped his arm around her and replied, "Yeah, Claire dared me to steal it and take it around the block. I went into the kitchen, took the keys off the rack, and walked out the front door. Claire followed and got in the car. I started it up, and went down a few streets, and eventually got home and we went to bed." 

"Did you get caught?" Jill asked.

"Well, I wouldn't have if Claire hadn't of kept arguing with me because she was scared of how well I could drive, so I made the mistake of pulling in on the wrong side of the driveway. Well, mom and dad woke up, and realized where the car was. So, instead of questioning me, they questioned Claire who was like eight, and bribed her with a new toy or something, and she admitted everything."

"Did she get in trouble?" 

Chris chuckled, "All she got was a _'I can't believe you got in the car with him'_. I was yelled at for endangering her, others, and myself. I tried to tell them she dared me, but they just said _'So if she dared you to jump off a bridge would you?'_ remark."

Jill laughed. She turned to face him noticing how he got this twinkle in his eye that made him look more like he _was_ fourteen.

"Now let's go to bed, how about it?" Chris asked, yawning.

"Yeah."

~ * * ~

****

Author's Note: Well damn, I probably wrecked that chapter. Got a serious case of writer's block. I'm getting ahead of myself, I've got ideas for upcoming stories, and ideas for future chapters of this story. The action starts in the next chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to write more often. School's out in two weeks, and I've got the summer of just hanging out with my buds ahead. Thanks to all the reviewers, and keep reading and reviewing!


	5. Surprise Actions

****

Corruption

****

Chapter Five: Surprise Actions

Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with Resident Evil, I do, however, own the story.

The duffel bags made a disturbing metallic _clanking_ sound as they hit together in the back of the SUV. Carlos whirled around quickly, as a firm hand slammed down on his shoulder.

"Don't throw my guns." Barry said sternly.

Carlos nodded, and began setting the bags down very carefully.

Chris chuckled at the young man's frightened look. Barry never was lenient when it came to guns. His expression changed though as he looked at Barry's expression.

It was really going to happen. They were going to go right into hell, and there was no turning back. Umbrella was going to be brought down.

"Hey, I want everyone in the house!" Barry yelled.

"Speech time." Chris muttered.

"Does it before every mission." 

Chris turned at the very familiar voice. 

"Hey."

"Hey." Chris answered back to Jill.

She stepped in front of him, leaning back. His arms fell into the familiar position around her waist, and his body leaning down so that his chin was propped on her shoulder.

"Nervous?" She asked.

"Yeah, you?" 

She squirmed out of the position, and faced him. "Terrified. What if we don't make it?"

"We will." He replied sternly. "I promise, and you know I never break promises."

She nodded, and pulled his hand, leading him inside to the others.

~ * * ~

Barry looked out at the group. There were six, other than him. He studied them, the ones he'd known, and the ones he had just met. They were all couples, so he found himself looking at the partners.

Carlos and Rebecca were so young and vibrant. You could almost become disgusted by the charm oozing out every pore of the young Hispanic's body. But, Barry liked him none the less. He somehow found a way to look past the fact he had worked for the U.B.C.S. Although he was unknowingly helping the dastardly company they'd grown to hate, it still irked him. Though, if Rebecca could love him, there had to be something about him. Rebecca was very young, like Claire. She had seen more than he would ever want his own daughters to ever even think of. He realized she seemed more aged, physically. She was always mature when she first joined S.T.A.R.S., always finding it hard to act like some of the others on the Squad who could only have been classified as delinquents. Yet, she didn't seem so much like a _child_ anymore. 

Leon and Claire were the ones Barry could picture in the future causing mayhem to the others of the group. Their personalities were so much alike, mischievous in so many ways. But, Leon was a cop, so he had to be mature. Like Claire, she was very mature and serious when she had to be. Other than that, she was a free spirit, something he envied. He'd known Claire since she was in her mid teens and Leon for around four months. The two had known each other a little under a year, but they seemed they'd been together forever.

His eyes then rested upon Jill and Chris. Those two he studied the longest. He'd known both since they were in their early twenties, and he knew everything there was to know about them. They were possibly his favorite as a couple. Reminding him much of himself and his own wife. Bickering most the time over stupid things, but always love at first sight when it came down to it. Chris had changed when he met her, matured slightly, became more sensitive, and Barry knew, no matter what they went through, they would always work through it. He knew this because he'd seen the few huge arguments the two had worked through, and how they were now.

It almost killed him to think that these _kids_, so full of life and love, were about to risk it all, to save other people who had no idea of the pain and suffering. He felt hatred toward the people who they were risking their own lives to save. None of them had asked for it. Carlos was just looking for an adrenaline rush in the military, Claire was in college, trying to salvage and education. Chris, Jill, Rebecca, Leon, and himself were just trying to…_protect and serve._

It all crashed into him.

__

They had signed up for it. 

Carlos had admitted he just wanted to be like the guys on t.v. Who got in the fights, did the stunts, and came out looking better than ever, but the part that wanted to kick the bad guy's ass was the want to save innocent people. Claire was trying to get an education, but she herself had wanted to fight in this war, because she was sick of innocent lives being lost. Chris, Jill, Leon, and Rebecca signed up to _be _the ones who were called in to kick the bad guy's ass.

How could he have forgotten? He felt so _stupid _to have ever had any negative thoughts toward the innocent. They didn't know the pain and suffering, and he wanted to make damn sure they didn't ever know. If they just let Umbrella go his own wife and children would know the pain and suffering, and it was a risk he wasn't going to take.

He couldn't blame it on the people who had no idea; he could only blame it on the ones who did. Umbrella was the cause, and every single worthless person who knew, and didn't _try_ to stop them. Vengeance, revenge, and loss were the keywords flittering into his mind.

"Let's go." His voice rumbled out, deep and angry.

~ * * ~

There was no speech this time. Chris could only find one reason why there wouldn't be.

Barry was royally pissed and ready to go.

__

"Let's go."

When Barry had growled that, it had scared Chris. He'd never heard him speak like that. He glanced at Jill who gazed after Barry with a questioning look.

The van started up, and the passengers locked in. Barry wore thick black pants and a black "Kendo Gun Shop" shirt on. Chris was in black cargo pants, and a black U.S.A.F. shirt. Jill wore dark pants and a navy S.T.A.R.S. shirt. Leon was in his dark slick black pants, and a dark R.P.D. shirt. Carlos was in army fatigue pants and a dark brown shirt. Rebecca was in faded pants and a dark shirt.

They were dressed dark because they wanted the power out so that the holding cages would lock up. They would blend with the darkness.

The van rocked as they pulled off into a rocky clearing. 

"There's no turning back now." Barry muttered.

The seven got out of the van, and began strapping guns, ammo, and other weapons to themselves. They grabbed the remaining duffel bags full of extras, and set off.

The walk was silent. Five minutes of torturing silence. After an eternity, they reached the electric fence. Jill jogged down around the back of the fence, finding the box. She used the small pliers she had, and clipped two wires. She picked up a pinecone and tossed it at the fence. The pinecone fell unharmed to the ground. 

They scaled the fence, running to the side door labeled _"Storage"_. Chris pulled on the handle, it turned all the way, and they cautiously entered. 

It was a dank, dimly lit room. It smelled of a warehouse; mildewed wood, saw dust, etc. Chris raised his assault rifle, and aimed it so that the scope's light shone on the boxes. Nothing was written on them, they were just solid, wood crates. 

"The virus probably isn't in there, I don't think Umbrella is dumb enough to put it in _breakable_ boxes." Leon remarked.

"Well no shit Sherlock-" Chris' retort was silenced as a door on the opposite side of the room began to open. The team ducked down behind a wall of crates silently, and peered through the cracks. 

A short, overweight security guard entered the room, and shone his flashlight in the direction of the group. The man made a grunting noise, and unclipped his walkie-talkie from his belt. 

"Sir, no one's in here." 

"Do a walk through to make sure, the computer says that the back entrance was opened." An all too familiar voice called.

"Yes sir." The guard said enthusiastically. After the connection was cut, he grumbled, "Lazy bastard, too damn paranoid."

The guard walked through the mazes of boxes, scanning behind them. As he approached where the team was, Chris hooked his leg out and tripped him, Carlos slammed the butt of the rifle down on the back of the man's head. Jill pulled the wallet out of his pocket, and they stripped him of his security belt and badges on his shirt. 

The team was rummaging through their findings when the walkie-talkie crackled to life.

"God damn it Randy, are you done down there?"

__

Randy had a deep, baritone voice, so Barry picked up the device. He clicked the button on and rumbled, "I don't see anything." 

The voice hesitated, "Okay, one of those damn new guys must have went out the door." 

Barry clicked it off, and dropped it on Randy's chest. "Bastard."

"Who was on the line?" Rebecca asked quietly.

"You know who it was." Jill replied.

Rebecca swallowed.

"Was that Wesker?" Claire asked, hatred pouring through her stare.

Chris slammed his hand into one of the boxes.

"Yeah." Leon and Carlos said to Chris' outburst.

"So what do we do now?" Jill asked.

"I guess we go through the door." Barry answered.

~ * * ~

The facility wasn't very well lit. Chris was thankful for this, and regretful. It would make them less likely seen, but they also couldn't see. They reached an elevator, and Barry reached for the button. He stopped when he saw a down arrow.

"What the hell? The maps showed we were on the very bottom level." 

"That means we probably don't want to know what's down there." Carlos muttered.

Barry pressed up.

After a few minutes, the elevator finally reached them. 

"Shit, that means someone was using the elevator before." Claire said.

The group climbed in, wary of their surroundings. They figured there was a camera somewhere, but Umbrella would know of their presence soon anyway.

Hopefully their known presence wouldn't be for long. The plan was to find the self-destruct system, and get the hell out of dodge.

The elevator stopped, and the group jumped out, guns ready. The hallway they were on was definitely more lit. A scientist about to get on the elevator looked up startled. Barry kicked him, and the scientist began to sputter in French. Chris delivered a firm kick to the head, and continued down the hallway. 

Everyone followed suit.

Barry shot Jill a look. They both fell back to the rear of the group. 

"You see? He's already starting to disregard his own safety." Barry hissed.

Jill nodded.

"Talk to him Jill."

The jogged to catch up with the group.

"Damn it. Becky, Claire, get up here, the map is in French." Chris said, agitated.

The two girls began to decipher the language. 

"Where are we trying to go?" Claire asked.

Chris looked at Barry.

"We want to get to the main floor, where the offices are. If we can find the self-destruct system up there without having to deal with zombies, I'd say we were good." Barry answered Claire.

"Don't jinx us." Carlos remarked.

"Well then, we get on the elevator, and press the button that says, _lobby_." Rebecca remarked sarcastically.

"Why didn't we just do that in the first place?" Leon asked.

"Why don't we all just stand out in the open and argue about it for a little while?" Chris hissed.

"Why don't we get in the damn elevator and press the button that says _lobby_ so we can get the hell out of here?" Claire said in similar fashion to Chris.

Jill, Barry, and Carlos began to walk back to the elevator. The sarcastic spat between Chris, Claire, Rebecca, and Leon wouldn't cease if they intruded.

"Here's an idea why don't we all quit arguing and get on the fucking elevator because Barry, my boyfriend, and your girlfriend are leaving us?" Rebecca spat at Chris.

Chris was taken aback. "Becky, such language."

She whirled around, mouth open to say something. Chris jogged to the elevator.

Leon, Claire, and Rebecca chased after him.

~ * * ~

"That was very immature." Barry scolded.

"Yes but-" Chris began.

"No excuses Chris, you know damn well we're in a life or death situation here. This isn't playtime. Save the little spats for after we've saved the world." 

Chris silenced himself. He didn't want to argue with Barry. Tension was high due to the situation they were in. 

"So what's the plan?" Carlos asked quietly, trying to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Shut the power off, set off the self-destruct system, oh, and try not to die." Jill said.

Carlos nodded.

The elevator stopped, the doors slowly opened into what resembled a hotel's main floor. Exquisite polished tiling greeted them, ending at a waiting area where a carpet with Oriental designs matched a set of table and chairs. 

Their observation of the room was interrupted as the floor's receptionist saw their weapons. 

"Hey!" He shouted, his hand slipped under the desk, resulting in a very loud alarm. 

"Oh shit! Guards are coming!" Leon yelled. 

Each team member scrambled to opposing sides of the room. Claire dived over by the desk, regretting what she had to do. She quickly pulled her pistol from her waist, twisted her upper body toward the receptionist, and fired. The bullet left the gun, meeting the man's neck, he stayed standing for a moment, then fell, landing mere centimeters from Claire. She swallowed the scream in her throat, and crawled behind the desk. She shrugged off the guilt, knowing she had to do it. She didn't want to kill the man, but he would kill them, no regrets. 

"You okay?" Leon asked. 

Claire jumped, startled by Leon's presence.

"Yeah. Just that feeling…you know?" She mumbled.

"I know, the one we got back in Raccoon, the pain from killing a human…or what used to be a human."

"It'll go away." Claire replied.

Six soldiers stormed from the elevator, assault rifles ready.

Chris and Carlos made the first shots, firing on the run. Two soldiers went down, but not before leading off the Umbrella soldier's rebuttal. Stray gunshots littered the area. Rebecca and Barry lead the second wave, appearing from behind a display case. They shot at the four standing soldiers, hoping to entice them in their direction. 

The plan worked, two soldiers ran forward, and just as they came in close enough range to the glass display, Barry and Rebecca shoved it forward, sliding backwards as they did. Glass sprayed everywhere. The other two remaining soldiers were in shock long enough for Jill to fire. One shot came in contact with a soldier's head, and the other grazed by, before a _click_ erupted from the spent gun. 

Claire came up behind the lone soldier. 

"Have fun bitch?" He remarked.

Jill smirked, "Always."

"Well, your fun's about to end."

Claire hooked her arm around the soldier's neck. "No, our fun's just beginning." And she squeezed trigger.

"I thought you were feeling guilty?" Leon asked, looking down at the body.

"The idiot's like the one at the desk, yeah, but the soldier's I have no problem with." She replied.

The alarm suddenly shut off.

"I'd say they know we're here." Chris said.

They made their way over behind the desk, finding the main computer. Jill handed Chris the keycard they'd taken from Randy, and he typed the numbers into the computer.

The main screen came up, and a monotone, robotic voice asked: "What would you like to do?" A search box came up.

Chris typed in: _Access self-destruct system_

"I'm sorry, access denied. Computer not capable of your request, please try again."

"Fuck." Chris muttered.

"Try the accessing the power." Barry said.

__

Building power

"I'm sorry, access denied. Computer not capable of your request, please try again."

"Well you're not capable of shit are you?" Chris snarled.

"FREEZE!" A gruff voice yelled.

"God damn it! More of these?" Carlos complained before firing a clip at the eight new guards.

The soldiers had the upper hand, they'd caught them off guard, all in a group, and they were arguing with a computer. 

"Get down behind the desk." Barry hissed. 

They dropped down while Barry held them at bay, spraying round after round of his M-16. It eventually forced them to take cover.

"On three flip the desk as a shield." Chris said.

"One, two, three!"

They all pushed, and eventually the mahogany desk flipped, crashing against the tile. The computer other devices busted, sending an electrical light show through the lobby.

The computer fell, and sent an electrical surge to the outlet it was plugged into, the lights flickered, and it was suddenly pitch in the room.

"Well there's your power outage." Carlos remarked.

Bullets sprayed at the desk, sending wood chips flying. Rebecca, Jill, and Claire searched through the drawers that had fallen out of the desk, while Chris, Barry, Carlos, and Leon returned fire.

"Someone was a smoker." Claire remarked. 

There were at least ten cartons of cigarettes in the drawer.

"Ten bucks says it was him." Rebecca pointed at the receptionist.

Claire suddenly grinned. 

Rebecca and Jill recognized the grin. It was the same Chris got when he got an idea.

Claire crawled over to the body, and began rummaging through his pockets. She finally found her reward. She returned to Rebecca with a smile lighter.

"What are we gonna use that for?" Jill asked.

"We're gonna burn them out." Claire replied.

Claire tapped Chris.

"What?" He slammed another clip into his gun.

"Give me your lighter."

"Why?"

"Just do it, I got a plan."

"It's in my back pocket." He replied.

Jill couldn't help but laugh at Claire's grimace to Chris' reply to the location of his lighter.

"Hey Jill, you wanna get that lighter for me?" 

Jill laughed again, and retrieved the lighter.

Chris glanced down. "What are you doing?"

Leon, who was reloading his gun, and only saw Jill reaching into Chris' pocket remarked, "Hey! There's a mission at hand!"

"Shut up you pervert." Jill replied and tossed the lighter to Claire.

Claire busted the lighter she'd taken from the guard, and spilled the fluid all over him, she then lit where the fluid wasn't heavy using Chris' lighter. The three girls quickly lifted him up, and heaved him toward the preceding soldiers.

Leon, Barry, Carlos, and Chris looked in awe at the girls, and quickly used the distraction to rid themselves of the soldiers.

"Well damn." Carlos muttered.

Claire handed Jill back the lighter, who placed it in Chris' pocket again. 

Jill glared at Leon, "Not one word."

~ * * ~

Author's Note: Damn it's been a while. Well, it's been summer break about a month now, but I've just been busy being lazy, hanging out with friends, staying up all night, etc. The staying up all night is actually what produced this chapter, that and a liter of Mountain Dew and Mountain Dew LiveWire. Anyway, I'm out of my serious case of writer's block, I think. I won't say when another chapter will be up. I get ahead of myself and start writing other stories, and then get all messed up and it's just chaos. Erm, please review, thanks!

****


	6. Deeper Into Hell

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil or anything associated with it. I do however, own the story.

****

Corruption

****

Chapter Six: Deeper In To Hell

After a few minutes of regrouping after Claire, Jill, and Rebecca's help, the team found out that their so-called power outage, was only for one floor.

"So where do you think we can disable the power at?" Leon asked.

"Don't know, but with our luck it probably be down on that floor that wasn't on the map." Carlos replied.

"Such negative thoughts boys." Rebecca said.

The group reached the top of the stairs to the fourth floor. The second and third floors hadn't produced much, except for waste of ammunition, more dead Umbrella soldiers, and another argument between Chris and a computer.

As they entered the foyer of the fourth floor, they stopped, and prepared. Leon and Barry ran in guns ready. Carlos and Rebecca followed in, with Claire and Jill on back up. Chris finally brought up the rear. 

"Alright, room's empty." Barry said, after observing.

"Not quite Burton."

Barry, Chris, Jill, and Rebecca stopped.

"Ah, nice to see some old friends."

"Fuck off Wesker, you want friends? Go to hell." Chris spat.

Albert Wesker shifted his reptilian eyes to Chris. "Redfield, never could control that mouth of yours, always seems to be moving-" Wesker stopped suddenly, a smirk crossing his face. "Which must be pleasing to you Jillian."

"Actually it is." Jill retorted. "Chris actually can please a girl, something you wouldn't know."

As soon as Jill had said that, Wesker was centimeters from her. He placed his hands on her hips. "You see that speed? I'm capable of pleasuring you in many ways Christopher couldn't, and you wouldn't be able to imagine. I would have to say though, young Christopher appears to be quite talented in bed when he's fucking you. He's got quite an amazing endurance."

Wesker's hand began traveling up Jill's side, resting under her breasts. Jill swallowed the vomit rising in her throat as his hand continued up. Chris sprinted forward, slamming into Wesker's side. Wesker eventually pinned Chris down. "Aw, did I piss you off Redfield? Did I touch your girlfriend, make you jealous? I must say from what I saw when you and your sister returned home, Jill seemed talented in bed herself."

Chris spit in his face. "I don't think that's your business." 

Wesker moved his hand to Chris' throat and began squeezing until Claire's rifle met his back.

"You little bitch. Just like your brother, a damn idiot!" Wesker roared.

Chris had enough time to grab his gun and fire at Wesker. Three shots entered near his chest. Wesker grabbed his chest, and was out of sight within seconds. Chris immediately ran to Jill.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be taking a shower though." She replied, shuddering.

"Alright, so now that we've got a preview of what powers he's got, we can get a move on." Barry said. 

Carlos, Rebecca, and Leon started over toward Chris, Jill, and Claire. 

"God Jill, that had to be…ew…" Rebecca shuddered.

"Yeah _ew_ for Jill, but also for us. We really didn't need to know about their sex life either. That's between Jill and Chris." Leon grumbled.

"You think?" Jill retorted.

~ * * ~

The fifth floor proved to be a series of doors, and it was pitch black. 

"I wanna say split up…" Chris drawled.

"No." Barry growled.

"Okay, someone pick a door." Leon said.

Rebecca pointed at the third door on the left. "How about that one?" 

Carlos, being closest to it, turned the knob. Claire entered with her gun ready, and immediately began firing. Everyone followed after finding the room was full of zombies. 

"Guess I picked the wrong door huh?" Rebecca said over the gunfire.

"No big deal _chica_." Carlos said from behind her. "You're not picking again though."

Rebecca kicked behind her.

Twelve decaying bodies met the stone floor.

"Jesus, I'd forgotten how bad these smelled." Carlos said, holding his nose.

"Yeah, which means make this search quick." Leon answered.

They produced five ammo cases, and a small combat knife.

"Alright, next room." Jill said while turning the knob to the door next to the door Rebecca had picked. 

Jill's pick turned out be a quiet room, with no undead. It appeared to be some sort of study.

Jill was exploring the dusty bookshelf when Chris came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her. 

"Hey."

"Hey." She replied, grabbing his hands that were resting upon her waist. "Thanks for earlier."

"Hmm?" 

"Getting Wesker off of me. You know he could have killed you."

Chris planted quick kisses down Jill's neck. "Well, I love you. He started touching you and I just lost it."

"Well, I can tell you right now, if touching is part of his speed and capabilities, I don't think he's pleasing a girl anytime soon." Jill replied.

Chris chuckled.

"But that's the thing, please control yourself Chris, don't do something stupid that could hurt you. I love you too much for that." She added.

He was going to reply, but he was interrupted.

"Hey! Come here, look what we found." Carlos said.

Leon and Claire turned from their spot at the computer to Carlos who was holding a slip of paper.

"What's it say?" Leon asked.

"It's to all Head Genetic Researchers. It says, The Untitled Project Umbrella began two months ago is now officially complete. The Project was a fast success thanks in regards to the hard work of our researchers. The assembly introducing the new B.O.W. species is at 7:00 PM in the Main Meeting Boardroom." Carlos read the memo.

"Great, Umbrella's created something else." Claire groaned.

"Whatever it is, it's probably in that unmarked floor." Leon said before leaving the room.

~ * * ~

None of the other doors had held anything important, an herb or health spray, maybe some ammo, but nothing in regards to what Chris wanted. He wanted another file; something on the B.O.W. in the report Carlos had found talked about. He came to the last door, and it was his turn to pick.

"Here we go." 

The door revealed a lounge, with a set of stairs to very back left corner of the room. There were two candy machines and a drink machine to the facing wall, four worn, wooded tables in the middle of the room, and an arrangement of chairs and couches near the vending machines.

"Okay, not very interesting." Rebecca said, kicking an empty can on the linoleum floor.

"Up the stairs then?" Carlos motioned with his assault rifle.

Barry nodded, walking toward the steps.

Chris, Barry, Leon, and Rebecca were the first on the stairs. Carlos, Jill, and Claire were starting toward the others, when a steel gate slammed down in front of them.

"Shit." Chris muttered. He immediately backed up, and rammed into the door. 

It didn't budge.

"Fuck!" He yelled, holding his shoulder.

"The damn thing's solid." Leon confirmed, running his hand over the smooth texturing.

"Carlos! Jill! Claire!" Rebecca yelled.

Barry pressed his ear onto the barricade.

"Nothing, it's probably sound proof. Come we've gotta get going and find an elevator or something back to the first floor." He concluded.

~ * * ~

"God damn it!" Claire growled, kicking the solid door in front of her.

"Chris! Bec! Barry! Leon!" Jill yelled.

After a few seconds, they came to the realization no one was going to answer.

"Fucking thing is probably sound proof. I doubt they're gonna here us." Carlos said, turning his interests to the vending machine. He gave a firm kick, causing a rattle from inside the machine. He smirked triumphantly, and removed the can from the slot.

"Okay, stealing from the machine is not our top priority right now." Claire mumbled.

"Damn, she's just like Chris you know that? Never in a good mood unless-" Carlos caught his tongue seeing the death glare Claire was giving him.

"Unless what?" Jill persisted.

"If I finish my sentence, it will piss you and her off."

"Why would it piss _me_ off?" Jill asked.

"Because of the reason I was thinking, but you give Chris the reason I was thinking so-"

"What he's trying to say is that Chris and me aren't happy unless we've had a good lay, right?" Claire spat.

"Well I wasn't exactly going to put it that way…"

"Okay I'm sick of my sex life being spotlighted." Jill growled.

"You're telling me, I didn't need to know that my brother-"

"I didn't need to hear the noises I heard the other night either-"

"_Chica's_!" Carlos yelled.

"What? You and Rebecca are loud too you know." Claire stated.

~ * * ~

The sixth floor was completely dark. It appeared to be another hallway, but there we no doors, just gray walls that looked like they'd recently been painted. At the end of the corridor was a set of steel double doors. 

"What do you think the other's are doing?" Rebecca whispered.

"Well if it was just Claire and Jill, I'd say they were devising a plan, and would eventually end up talking about me, but with Carlos down there…" Chris replied.

Barry shook his head. 

"With Carlos down there, they're probably arguing about something." Leon answered.

"On the contrary Kennedy, Claire and Jill are with me." 

The four whirled around to find the large screen behind them. Wesker was in a room with Claire and Jill behind him.

"You look surprised Chris, I thought I'd spice things up a bit. Now, I've taken Jill from you before, and I've capture Claire, but I don't believe ever at the same time. Two most important women in your life and you can't do shit." Wesker laughed.

"Leave them out of this. If you're using them to get to me, why not just get me?" Chris growled.

"What fun would that be? You and your team of assholes have all been a nuisance to me. I'll get them all, and tear them from you, leaving you all alone. I'll catch you and…well, I don't know, but it will be painful. In a way you are right though, this is between you and me. Why do you think it's been so easy for you? I only released a few soldiers, and I haven't even called anything remotely special out of its cage. Be glad Redfield, it won't last for long. I suggest you find your precious Jill and loving sister, before I get done playing with them. I don't like to get bored." 

The screen cut off.

Barry looked over at Chris. His jaw was clenched shut tightly and his hands were balled into fists. There was a maniacal look in his eye, full of wild rage.

"_Chris_…"

"Barry I've gotta go get them."

"No Chris we are not splitting up-"

Chris stepped in front of Barry and growled, "I told you if something happened to them-"

"I told you if something were to happen to them-"

"And I told them to tell you that you can't run off on some reckless power trip, this is _our_ war."

"We have to find them."

"And we will."

Chris glanced at Rebecca, who returned a worried look, "And we have to find Carlos."

"We aren't splitting up."

"God damn it, what if it was Cathy and the girls?" Chris spat.

Barry glared.

"Yeah, now you see where I'm coming from? If we go after Jill and Claire, something could happen to Carlos, we go after him, something could happen to them." Chris explained.

"He's right Barry." Rebecca agreed with Chris.

"Okay, so I'll go find Jill and Claire, you, Bec, and Leon go find Carlos."

"Chris?" Leon asked quietly.

He shifted his gaze.

"I want to come with you to find Claire and Jill." 

Chris saw the pleading look mixed with worry and fear in his eyes. "Can you run fast?" 

Leon nodded.

"Okay, Bec, Barry, be careful."

"You too." Rebecca answered.

~ * * ~

Chris and Leon crashed through the double doors at the end of the hallway, and both came to a screeching halt when the next set of doors in front of them said '_Autopsy Room_'.

"Autopsy?" Leon asked.

"Oh shit." Chris mumbled.

They pushed the doors.

The room was extremely large. It was white, sterile, and filled with gurneys that had bodies on them.

"You scared they're gonna come to life?" Leon asked.

"Which is why you're gonna watch them."

Leon let out a nervous laugh.

"There's got to be something in here that tells us how to get out." Chris said to himself.

"Or an actual way out." Leon added.

Startled, Chris jumped back and knocked into Leon, which in turn caused him to fall into a gurney.

"Damn it, I told you to watch them." Chris motioned to the gurneys.

"Yeah but-" Leon tried to stand up from under the gurney, but his legs disappeared into a hole.

Chris dove across the floor and caught his hand. "You know you're a real dumbass? You've got to have something though because my sis loves you," Chris pulled him up. "Or you're good in bed."

Leon chuckled.

"Anyway, you found our way out." Chris said, inspecting the hole.

Leon nodded, and then noticed the look Chris was giving him. "What? I'm not going down first, I found it."

Chris sighed, and began to lower himself into the hole. When he hit the ground, he raised up to help Leon down. After the two were recomposed, Chris heard what he dreaded, a _clicking_ noise, and the _throaty hiss_.

"Hunter." He mumbled.

He grabbed his gun, and fired at the monster coming toward him.

"This isn't good."

"Why not? You killed it." Leon said.

Three more came at the duo. "They travel in packs."

They opened fire, killing the reptiles. After they were dealt with, the two continued down the dank hallway. 

"So what do you think this is…other than a secret passage?" Leon asked.

"Well it appears to be-" Chris suddenly realized he was in water. "A sewer?"

"Great." Leon sighed.

"What?" 

"Last time I was in a sewer was when I was in Raccoon with your sister, there was a giant alligator…"

"That's all you need to say. I'm already scared of snakes and spiders from my experiences." Chris replied.

They continued sloshing through the water, until they came to a door. Leon twisted it open, and they stepped into the darkness.

Wesker turned from his place.

"Redfield, you brought Kennedy? What a surprise! Well, we've could've had some fun, but I hate to say I forgot to mention something, I get bored easily." Wesker stepped aside.

Chris dropped to his knees, and Leon stood in shock.

~ * * ~

****

Author's Note: Oh I hate it! Cliffhangers suck! Look at me, actually getting a chapter out quick, and then I just turn around and do that? Well, my creativity is getting the better of me, and you can't have a good story without cliffhangers, and there's a few more coming. So far Dale's the only one that's reviewed chapter five, but I'm figuring either it's the fact that I update at 4:00 AM cuz I'm an insomniac, and it's the week. But Dale, I wanna thank you for reviewing, and getting that chapter out. Anyway, it's close to 5:00 AM, so I think I'm gonna crash, at least until I'm forced up at 8:30 AM, but maybe I'll stay up a little longer and start chapter seven…Anyway, please review, thanks!

****


	7. Emotional Rage

****

Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with Resident Evil. I do however, own the story.

Corruption

Chapter Seven: Emotional Rage

"You fucking bastard!" Leon yelled.

The blonde stood there, an emotionless smirk on his face.

"What did you do to her?" Leon growled.

"Which _her_? I assume you want to know about Claire. Well, I didn't do what I did to Jill, Claire was menstruating." Wesker stated.

Chris was still on his knees, unable to speak. He was feeling a crash of emotions at the moment. Guilt, anger, hatred, revenge, vengeance, etc., but the one emotion he could feel the most, was the empty feeling of loss. 

"Oh, and to her," Wesker motioned toward the lifeless body of Jill. "Well, I tried her out." He bent down in front of Chris, removing his sunglasses. "She wasn't menstruating fortunately. Oh Redfield, there was nothing you could do, I'd have gotten my way with her eventually, she wouldn't have been on that for a long time."

Chris looked up through blurry eyes.

"Such little intelligence. _Christopher_, she was pregnant with your child." He finished coldly.

~ * * ~

"I hope Chris and Leon can get to Jill and Claire quick." Rebecca said. "If something happened to them-"

"If something happened to them, we would have a very depressed, and more than likely suicidal, Chris on our hands." Barry replied.

"Suicidal?" Rebecca gasped.

"Unfortunately yes, Chris lacks the ability to handle emotions well. If he lost Claire…but if he lost Jill too. You know he's crazy about her."

"Crazy is an understatement." Rebecca said. "But suicidal?"

Barry sighed. "When Chris called me after they got back from Rockfort, he was a wreck after I told him Jill's story, how she'd been infected and all. He went into a nervous rant saying everything was his fault and how he'd probably lost her to Carlos. I told him she was okay and it wasn't his fault and that he hadn't lost her to Carlos. He calmed down a little and told me his story. He said he'd almost losing Claire and Jill put him on the verge of not wanting to live anymore."

Rebecca gasped. "Did you tell Jill?"

"Yeah I told her, then she went into a nervous break down thinking he was going to kill himself because he thought he'd lost her to Carlos." Barry chuckled.

"Must feel good to know someone loves you _that much_ though." Rebecca proclaimed.

"Well, we all know Carlos loves you."

Rebecca blushed. "Yeah. But, you're quite the counselor."

Barry chuckled. "Hopefully that'll come in handy as soon as my girls need it."

"I'm sorry you have to be away from your family."

"Well I'm not entirely, you guys are my family." 

Rebecca stopped, "You've got one crazy family then." 

Barry laughed and placed an arm around her. "I do don't I?"

Rebecca nodded, and they continued down the hall they were stuck in. There was a gate at the stairs, and Leon and Chris were at the other end. 

"How do you suppose we find Carlos from here?" Rebecca asked.

Barry shined his flashlight around. The beam landed on an air vent. "Bingo."

Barry lifted Rebecca up, and she used his pocketknife to unscrew the gated covering. She pulled it, and the covering fell. She lifted herself up into the dank vent. Barry then jumped; he grabbed the ledge of the opening, and pulled himself up.

"Okay, I say we go left." Rebecca said as they reached a fork.

"Why is that?"

"Well, when we climbed into the vent, the stairs were to our left. So to get back that way, we go left, right?"

"Right." Barry replied.

"No left."

"Huh?"

"Why go right? I mean Leon and Chris went that way, and Carlos is basically trapped unless he was captured."

"No, I meant right, as in correct, I was agreeing." 

"Oh." Rebecca muttered.

"Teenagers."

"Hey, legally I'm an adult. Besides, your daughters will be ones on day."

"Some of the things that I dread," He replied.

They went left, crawling through the compacted tunnels.

"Okay we have a problem." 

"What?" Barry called from the rear.

"The drop into the lounge is straight down. So we gotta just…drop." Rebecca answered.

Barry sighed. "I'm getting too old for this."

Rebecca dropped through, or rather fell through, Barry coming down shortly after.

~ * * ~

Chris stood up; barreling into Wesker with a force the Tyrant admittedly didn't know was in him. He didn't stop as their weight crashed through a computer desk. Wesker kicked Chris into the nearest wall.

Leon finally couldn't control the fury building inside him. He sprayed fire from his magnum at Wesker. He turned around, slamming into Leon. He grabbed him by the shirt, raising him three feet off the ground. 

"Oh your lucky I didn't do Redfield's bitch little sister, I would've-"

Chris pistol whipped the back of his head, then stabbed his combat knife into Wesker's abdomen. The blade entered the body, with a sickening _crunch_. Wesker dropped Leon, who began rapidly gasping for the breath he'd been deprived of. Chris yanked the knife out, causing a large amount of blood to squirt out.

Wesker knew his Tyrant Virus would heal the wound quickly, but he had things to attend to, more important matters than seeing the two nuisances attempt to kill him, a suicidal attempt. He delivered a blow to Chris' ribs, and forcefully to Leon's stomach. Chris' hit was on the bad ribs he'd received from taking a hit for Jill from the Tyrant at Spencer Estate. Leon's breath was knocked out of his already gasping body. 

Wesker took one last look at the bodies of the younger Redfield, and Jill before running out of the room, locking the door behind him.

Chris crawled over to Leon, trying to ignore the searing pain going through his ribs. 

"Leon?" He said weakly.

He coughed, and gasped clutching his stomach. "I'm fine, you?"

"Probably re-broke some ribs but yeah." He said.

Then he realized his answer. He wasn't fine, nor was Leon. They'd failed to remember what was in the room with them.

"Oh God."

The bodies were on the floor, feet from them. Claire was lifeless, her eyes shut, dried blood near her temple. 

Leon scrambled across the floor, checking the pulse. Feeling nothing, his mouth found her lips, and began blowing more breath than he had into Claire's body. He stopped after he became light-headed from loss of breath that he'd experienced a lot from the past ten minutes.

He looked at Chris, and reality hit him. Chris' head was down, his shoulders shaking violently. He then cast his stare to Jill.

Her eyes were open, blood still flowing from the sever in her neck. The shirt she had been wearing ripped, and her pants open, and slightly ripped. Wesker _had_ had his way with her, there were bruises on her from it.

__

"She was pregnant with your child."

The words rang in his head. They were deafening. He'd lost his sister, and _her_. The love of his life, who was pregnant with his child, was gone.

"I was going to be a father." His voice was unstable, and laced with torment.

Leon swallowed. "Claire was going to be an aunt, and I…I was going to be an uncle."

"Jill was going to be a mother."

Leon nodded, edging toward Chris. He didn't know what to do, or what to say. Chris was crying, and Leon himself was crying. He was in pain, but not near the pain Chris had to be experiencing. He'd lost his girlfriend, his sister, _and_ his right as a father. He cautiously put a hand on Chris' back as a sign of understanding.

"You should go." Chris finally said, staring at the ceiling, anything to keep away from the sight in front of him.

"What are you gonna do?" Leon asked. 

He then saw the way Chris had diverted his stare to the rifle laying on the ground. He flashed back to the conversation he'd overheard between Jill and Barry after Chris had called after their return.

__

Leon crept toward the kitchen, craving something to eat. He'd been so depressed as of late, thinking of Claire. Then he heard voices coming from the living room. He tried to pay no mind to it, until he heard Barry say:

"Chris just called."

Leon stopped, knowing if Chris called, then Claire was involved. He crept toward the kitchen table, and sat on a stool, training his easr on Jill and Barry's voice.

"What! Is he okay is-"

"He's fine physically minus a few scratches and bruises, but I don't think so emotionally.

"What do you mean?"

"Of course he asked how you were. I told him of Raccoon, and how it'd been 'nuked. I told him you and an Umbrella soldier teamed up against the Squad leader, Nicholai."

"What did he say?" 

"Well first I could tell he was very pissed about you and an Umbrella soldier, and he got even more pissed after I told him Carlos had rescued you. He asked what he'd rescued you from, so I had to tell him a B.O.W. nicknamed 'Nemesis' had infected you with the Virus. He flipped out."

"Why? Was he jealous?"

"Partially, and it tore him up that he wasn't there with you, and that you almost died."

"You told him nothing was going on right?"

"Yes! I told him that we had two lovesick kids running around here."

"Who are the two…Leon?"

"Yes."

"Speaking of, how's Claire?"

"She's fine, other then a bit emotional. She met some prisoner, Steve Burnside on the island."

Leon's heart sank.

"What?"

"His father was apparently doing something illegal, selling info on them or something, they got close, formed a partnership to get the hell out of there. Alfred and Alexia Ashford, genius kids of Alexander Ashford who was co-founder of Umbrella, interfered. After trying to get away, ending up in Antarctica, killing Alfred, who was cross-dressing as his sister who'd injected herself with the T-Veronica Virus, Alexia injected Steve. He became a monster and attempted to kill Claire. Claire almost escaped, but some vine thing caught her, and tried to choke her. Steve fought his monster-self and freed her. His last words to her were 'I love you'."

"So she's pretty banged up about it."

"Yeah, but more so to the fact that she feels guilty about not loving him, and loving Leon."

His heart sang. Leon rose up to leave, but stopped after Barry began to talk again.

"Poor Claire."

"I'm more worried about Chris though. He told me during his rant that if he lost you and Claire…"

"What?"

"He said if he lost you and Claire that there'd be nothing to live for, and that Umbrella would have succeeded."

"But he didn't lose me."

"He knows you're alive, but I don't think he's convinced that there's nothing going on between you and Carlos."

"Oh God, you know how jealous he gets."

"Yes I do know, and I know how jealous you get."

"Shut up, that was a long time ago. Anyway, he gets all worked up, he's got quite a temper, him and Claire both."

"I know, that's what I'm worried about. Carlos is a bit flirtatious, if he does anything he could kill him. I wouldn't put it past him to do that. And sadly, I wouldn't put it past him to hurt himself over something like this."

Leon got up, not knowing what to think. Part of him was happy; he'd been assured about Claire's feelings, but about Chris. Barry was hinting he could be suicidal and very dangerous if Carlos hit on Jill, which was highly likely.

"No Chris, I'm not going to leave you." Leon growled.

Chris stood, which scared Leon. Chris wasn't '_The World's Strongest Man_', but he was strong, stronger than Leon.

Leon rose to his height, suddenly not caring whether he got the hell beat out of him. "Look, I lost someone too, and I'm sorry, it's fucking tearing me up too, but you can't kill yourself."

"Why not? I've got nothing to live for. My only blood relative was just killed; the only woman I'm ever going to love was raped _and_ murdered! Oh, and let's not forget my _child_ died with them!" Chris roared. "You didn't lose half as much as me."

"I lost the only woman I'll ever love, and my unborn kid too."

"Claire wasn't pregnant."

"So? What did you think I planned on doing after this shit was over? I wanted to marry her, I wanted to have a kid, hell, _kids_ with her!" He roared back.

"You've still got your blood."

"Bullshit. My family doesn't give a shit. They haven't for years. My father left when I was young, my mother went through a downward spiral. I've got no aunts or uncles who give a shit, nobody. My brothers and sisters are drug addicts, or live a happy life and want nothing to do with their past." He paused. "But I do have family."

"You just-"

"What do you think you and the others are? I considered you, and I still do consider you my brother. Hell, as dumb as he is I still think of Carlos as my brother. Rebecca's like a little sister, and Barry is so much like a father. Jill," He stopped, "Jill, was a sister."

Chris met Leon's eyes, and Leon could suddenly see Claire's. The mysterious gray-blue, you could get so lost in, the mixture of the colors so perfect.

"You're right." Chris whispered. "You were going to be my brother, Carlos…well I don't know but I'm sure he'd become it eventually. Rebecca is like a little sister to me. Barry…Barry _is_ my father. I've known him so long."

"Okay so as hard as it is, we gotta-" Leon stopped short.

Chris saw his vivid blue eyes widen in shock. Then he felt the hand on his shoulder. He jumped, and twisted on his heel. 

Jill Valentine stood. Her once electrifying azure eyes were now cold, and pale. She shuffled forward, and moaned unintelligibly. Leon heard what he dreaded behind him. Claire was rising, the description he'd verified in Chris' eyes also drastically ruined. Leon shifted his eyes to the vein in her wrist. The same puncture wound he'd noticed on Jill seconds before was visible.

"He injected them."

~ * * ~

"It's not my fault I'm loud I mean Rebecca does this thing where-"

Carlos stopped suddenly, as the vent above him crashed down, with two familiar people following.

"Carlos!" Rebecca yelled. She ran into him, hugging the man forcefully.

"Thank God that argument is over." Claire muttered. 

Jill laughed, and stood up from the position she was in. "Okay, um…where's Chris and Leon?"

Barry stared blankly, while Rebecca's mouth fell open.

"What's wrong with them?" Claire muttered.

"Guys?" Jill asked.

"How did you get out?" Rebecca asked.

"What? We've been in here the whole time. Carlos said there was nowhere else to go, and free food and drinks here so-" Claire explained.

"So you haven't seen Wesker?"

Jill swallowed. "Where are Chris and Leon?"

"Wesker said he had you, we saw you in the background while he was talking. He told us that Carlos was where we'd left him, and that we better find you two before he got bored." Barry sighed. "Chris and Leon went after you."

~ * * ~

****

Author's Note: Aww come on! Did you really think I would kill Claire and Jill? Honestly people would I do that to Chris and Leon? Another cliffhanger, I told you more were coming. Would you look at this? I've already gotten another chapter out. All right, now for another subject. I've actually completed Chapters 8-10, and the final (Chapter 11) is in the process of being completed. I'll update every couple of days or so. Please review! Thanks.


	8. The Living Dead

****

Disclaimer: I don't know anything associated with Resident Evil. I do however, own the story.

Corruption

Chapter Eight: The Living Dead

Leon and Chris stood frozen as the two zombies lurched toward them. They were frozen in terror. Their minds should have registered _zombies_, but they couldn't. These zombies were formerly women they loved. 

How were they supposed to shoot Jill and Claire?

The men continued backing up until they'd met the wall.

"We…we have to…" Leon stuttered.

"I know." Chris replied.

Leon pulled his Sigpro from his belt as Chris took his Magnum. 

"Head shot." Chris muttered, knowing it would be the quickest way.

They raised their guns and made sure aim was accurate. Leon squeezed his eyes shut, and Chris turned away. 

The guns cracked.

As the Sigpro's slide pulled back, Leon fought the urge to do what he'd just talked Chris out of doing. Chris slung his gun across the room, and fell to the floor. He pulled his knees up to his chest, and rocked back and forth, crying harder than he had ever cried in his life.

Leon felt the vomit rise in his throat. The sobs wrenching him wouldn't allow the liquid to stay down, he turned away, and keeled over. The bile came out until he couldn't breathe anymore. He fell to the ground choking, and gasping for air.

Chris grabbed the young man's hand. "Come on I can't be in this room, we gotta…get…like outside or…"

Leon just lay there, unable to salvage any energy. 

Chris couldn't leave him in there; he'd go insane and shoot himself. He bent down, swallowing back his sobs for a moment, and hurled the man over his shoulder. He pulled the door open, keeping his eyes straight ahead, and away from the gruesome sight. Leon began coughing again and Chris could feel his stomach muscles contract against his shoulder. Leon hurled, and Chris winced as the warm liquid rolled down his back. They were finally out, the door slamming shut. 

"Can you walk?" Chris asked.

Leon nodded, and Chris sat him down.

They needed time; a few minutes to mourn what they'd lost. There hadn't been those times in their previous treks, but they damn sure were going to make time for this. Leon let the sobs wrack his body. Chris just stared, in shock of what had happened.

The memories hit from the very first day he and Jill had met, to just before they'd left, and even faux future memories he could imagine. 

They'd lost it, lost it all. What could have been, would have been, what _should_ have been, everything. 

Leon stopped crying, and came to the realization that he was wet. They were sitting in water from the sewers they'd previously gone through.

"I'm sorry for throwing up on you." Leon mumbled.

In the dark, he could see Chris shifting his body, like he had forgotten, and was remembering the vomit all down his back, and removing his shirt. "It's the least of my worries."

They stayed quiet for a moment, until Chris broke the silence. "You know I was planning on purposing to Jill after this was over?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, I had the ring bought and everything, I've got it hidden back at the house. I was going to do it after we got back from here. Barry was talking about a celebration party, I was gonna do it there, in front of everybody." He paused as the tears came back, and he hit his hand on the water. "But now, I can't."

"I was gonna purpose to Claire."

"What? You hadn't been together a month."

"Well she said something to me one night in bed, I was scared that we wouldn't make it through this, and she told me: _"I don't think God would let us get this far only to let us die"_." He paused at the irony. "I guess she was wrong, but in that moment, I'd realized how much I loved her, and I knew that with the things we were involved in, I had to tell her…show her."

"You would've had my blessing."

~ * * ~

"How is that possible?" Claire asked dumbfounded.

"That's not what I'm worried about, Wesker will kill them." Jill said.

Carlos began to walk forward, when his food slid on something. 

Rebecca looked down. "What's that?" She bent down to pick it up. "It's a report to Wesker about those new B.O.W.'s."

"Well what's it say?" Barry asked.

"It's only a couple of sentences…The Virus is almost complete. Results are fantastic, there are absolutely no differences in the copied specimens."

"So what, Umbrella's new Virus to test on the B.O.W.s is like cloning?" Carlos muttered.

"It would make since considering the situation we're in." Rebecca answered.

"If Wesker's done something to those _clones_, Chris will lose it." Barry said.

Jill's eyes met his, remembering their conversation.

"And knowing Leon, he'll jump right into whatever Chris gets into." Claire gasped.

"We've gotta find them Barry." Jill said sternly.

"Back into the air ducts we go then." Rebecca replied, standing on the couch, and pulling herself up. Carlos pushed her feet up so she could grab onto the ledge of the following duct. 

Once she'd pulled herself up, Carlos lifted Claire, and then Jill. He turned to Barry, "Okay, how are we gonna do this?"

"Well you're lighter than me, but I don't see me getting up there by myself."

"So I'll lift you?"

Barry pulled himself as far as he could, and Carlos pushed, "We really need Chris for this." He said in a strained voice.

"You think?" Jill, Claire, Rebecca, and Barry chorused.

Barry finally pulled Carlos up, and they ventured down through the ducts. Claire was the first to reach; she slid down, aiming her gun.

"Coast's clear." She said.

Rebecca, Jill, Barry, and Carlos followed in Claire's fashion, dropping one by one with guns aimed.

Rebecca pointed ahead. "They ran through there."

The five walked down to the double doors. Behind them, they found an empty stretch.

"Autopsy Room? _Ay caramba_." Carlos muttered.

They pushed through, the gurneys frightening them. 

"God please don't let those come to life." Claire whispered.

"Look, the hole in the floor!" Jill shouted. 

They ran to it, dropping down it without hesitation. Their feet met the wetness at the bottom.

"Disgusting." Barry said, sloshing forward.

~ * * ~

"What was that?" Leon asked.

Chris and him had been easing the pain by telling stories, which consisted of memories with Claire and Jill. The healing process was interrupted by something making a huge splash.

"I don't know, but we left the guns in there." Chris answered.

"I'm not going back in there."

Chris removed two knives, and started forward. They dragged their feet, being quiet as possible. Whatever was coming at them was coming fast, and was very far from quiet. They met the corner, and hunkered to the wall. The rough texture of the brick scraped against Chris' bare back, causing him to bite his lip to keep from hissing in pain. He motioned his hand for Leon to stop and be very quiet. The two stopped breathing, waiting for their fate.

Jill was first around the corner, then Claire. Neither saw the two men at first. They were looking straight ahead, and Leon and Chris were crouched down and flattened.

Rebecca was the one who noticed the two, having stumbled over Chris' foot. She looked down. "Chris! Leon!"

Jill and Claire whirled around, immediately looking for them. Barry shone his flashlight down to reassure it was them, and then nodded. 

"Yep, these two idiots are definitely who we've been looking for."

Leon sprang up, hugging Claire forcefully.

"Okay honey stop. Leon I can't breathe!" Claire finally yelled.

"I'm sorry but…God is it really you?" He sputtered.

"Yeah, why?" She saw the redness in his eyes. "Why have you been crying? Wesker did something to those clones."

Leon nodded, shivering at the image.

"Um…why don't we go down the hall, and leave Chris and Jill alone. Leon you can tell us what happened." Barry said quietly. By the looks of things, Leon was definitely more stable, and he figured leaving Jill to talk to Chris, he'd be more likely to let out emotions he often kept bottled.

"Sure."

Rebecca, Carlos, Barry, Claire, and Leon went back down the corner, and stopped reaching the ladder.

~ * * ~

Jill watched as everyone filed away. She listened for them to go up the ladder, and looked at Chris.

He hadn't moved, since they'd found them. Whatever had happened before they'd arrived had definitely done something to Chris. She crouched down, sitting cross-legged in front of him in the water.

"Chris?" Her voice was soft and worried.

He raised up, his gray-blue eyes clouded and red. "You're dead." He whispered.

Jill looked at him in shock. "No Chris. I don't know what happened, who…o-or what you saw dead, but it wasn't me."

"I saw your throat slit, and then I saw you come at me, and I shot you." Chris sputtered.

"Look, Wesker's fucked with your head Chris," She grabbed him by the sides of his face, bringing them eye to eye. "I'm alive."

Chris stood, and Jill stood quickly, frightened when he suddenly jerked him arms out. She relaxed as she realized what he was doing. He pulled himself into her, sobbing again. Jill felt herself weakening, and beginning to cry.

Jill had never seen him cry, except for when he'd left for Paris and Jill had stayed back in Raccoon. Now though, he was going insane.

"Chris what did you see?" She asked quietly.

"Are you pregnant?" He asked suddenly.

She stepped back giving him a quizzical look. She was going to bypass the comment, considering the state he was in she figured it was some sort of ramble. His usually neat hair was matted against his forehead, water and sweat causing it to lose its form. His eyes were swollen from crying, and there were more bruises on his face. Jill noticed he was shirtless for some reason, cuts lining his back and his ribs were bruised. She trailed her fingers over the scar along his side from where he'd deliberately dove in front of her when the Tyrant at Spencer had come after her. He'd received a deep scratch, and broken ribs. The bruises along his side were the ribs he'd broken.

"Are you pregnant?" He asked again.

"No Chris-"

"Are you sure?"

"Fairly sure, I'm on the pill." She replied. "What did you see?"

He backed against the wall, sliding down the brick, causing more pain to his back. "Wesker beat the hell out of me and Leon after I rammed into him and Leon shot at him. He broke my ribs again, punched me and kicked me, and then tried to choke Leon. I stabbed him and he threw Leon down, knocked me senseless, and left."

"Chris I know that's not it with what you were saying a second ago. Why'd you attack Wesker then? You know he can kill you, he did or said something to piss you off I know it." Jill retorted.

"When we got there, Leon asked what he'd done. He told him he couldn't do anything but kill Claire because she was menstruating. He told me he could have his way with you though, and that he would've gotten you eventually because you wouldn't be on…_that_ for a long time. He told me you were pregnant."

"When we get out of here I'll take a test or something-"

Chris ignored her and continued. "After Leon and me stopped crying, I told him to leave. He said no, and we had a little heart-to-heart. Then, your…_the_ bodies came to life, and we had to shoot them."

Jill brought her hands up to her mouth. She immediately kneeled down, hugging him. "God, look but we're alive, Claire's okay. The new B.O.W.s are clones or something. It wasn't us."

"I know, just…that killed me. I told you if anything were to happen to you-"

"You were going to kill yourself weren't you? That's why Leon stayed, he knew what you were gonna do, and he had to stop you. Chris, you can't do that." Jill said, shocked at her realization.

"I know, Leon told me even if someone was to die, we still had family, Barry, Carlos, Bec, and everyone. That's how he talked me out of it." Chris explained.

"What did you do after that?" Jill asked.

"Well after I was going to commit suicide, we had to kill the…and then I cried some more, and he threw up. I picked him up to get him out of there, and he threw up on me. We sat outside and talked about you and Claire, then you guys came." 

"Okay, that explains why you're shirtless." Jill said.

"Jill, you know I love you right?" Chris asked.

She nodded. "And you know I love you, that's why you have got to control yourself. You can't do something insane."

"I know, I know, I've been told a million times."

"Then _listen_." Jill's voice was stern. "I couldn't handle losing you." She ran her hands back through his hair. It stood momentarily, and then fell.

Chris pulled her into him, and kissed her softly.

"We should get back to the others." Jill said.

He kissed her again. "Can we just sit here a while?"

"Yeah."

~ * * ~

"He was gonna _kill himself_?" Claire said in disbelief.

"Yeah."

"The hell he is. That jackass is not going to do anything to himself." Claire stated, heading down the ladder.

"Christopher Redfield! If you ever fucking try to kill yourself I swear to God I'll make you wish you had!" She roared, stomping through the sewers to where Chris and Jill were.

"Claire, I'm not gonna, your boyfriend and me had a talk."

"You better not 'cause so help me…"

"Okay, as much I love to see a good fight, we need to go investigate these um…clones." Carlos said, stepping between Claire and Chris.

"I am _not_ going back in that room." Leon and Chris replied in unison.

"Okay _amigos_, but Leon tells us that Wesker went through a door in that room, and we've got nowhere else to go, _comprende_?" Carlos retorted.

~ * * ~

They entered the door, and saw the bodies.

"Holy shit, they look exactly like you two!" Rebecca exclaimed. "Well, paler and stuff."

Jill could see the bruises, and rips in _her_ clothes. "Oh God, I'm so sorry Chris."

Claire turned away, going to Leon.

Carlos twisted the doorknob. "Damn it, it's locked."

"Wait, there's a key hole." Rebecca smiled.

"Well not to be rude, but it's a door, what's so exciting?" Claire asked.

"Yeah, I tend to find those things on doors." Leon added.

"They don't know." Barry replied.

"Know what? That you people are _loco_, yes I know that." Carlos replied.

"They don't know that we've got an ex-thief on our hands, a master of lock picking." Chris said.

"Bravo. Now can Jill unlock the door before I get sick?" Claire asked.

Jill got to the door, and began unlocking the door with the small metallic sliver. She received a satisfying _click_ soon after. She flashed a triumphant smile, trying her damnedest to lighten the mood. Although she wasn't feeling like lightening the mood, their arch nemesis could clone them, and he did a pretty good job of the appearance, and fucking with already unstable minds. She swallowed the lurch in her throat, as it did appear Wesker had done something to that body. He was evil, but he was smart. He was screwing with their heads, in ways he knew would hurt the most.

Chris and Leon shoved their way through the door, sick of being in the room with the bodies. A feeling of relief came over them, as they realized it was simply another dark hallway, which didn't appear to be inhabited by Wesker. Leon shone the beam down the hallway, not seeing an end.

"This doesn't look like it stops." He mumbled as the others filed through the door.

"It's gotta stop, it can't like…be never-ending." Rebecca replied.

Chris sighed, "This is Umbrella, anything is possible."

"Here." Jill said, handing Chris and Leon their guns.

They grimaced at the thought of what they'd done with the guns, but accepted, knowing knives wouldn't last them too long. Chris shouldered his assault rifle, and put his pistol in his belt. Leon placed his Sigpro in its holster under his arm, and kept the rifle out, loaded and ready. 

Carlos lead the way down the hall, reason being his Sniper had a light on it. He kept it trained and steady, walking slowly down the corridor.

__

Thump!

He stopped, training the small beam toward the noise. 

__

Thump!

Barry removed his flashlight from his shirt pocket, and flashed down the hall, causing Carlos' beam to fully light the hallway.

"Jesus fucking Christ." Claire mumbled.

It was a zombie, a clone zombie, and from the noises still coming, there were more.

Leon groaned, "They cloned me too?" He shot his rifle down the hall. The bullet seared through the air, and met its impact in the clone's shoulder. He quickly rattled another few shots off, hitting it in the chest, neck, and in the jaw.

~ * * ~

More came of Chris, Claire, Leon, Jill, Barry, Carlos, and Rebecca. Everytime they shot, it got easier to kill the clones. Although it was still weird to _kill_ themselves, they knew that they were all together, and what they were shooting at, was merely another one of Umbrella's sick creations.

"How long is this hallway?" Barry asked, as they continued down the hall. They had shot at least thirty zombies and had been walking for what Barry estimated to be two minutes. "I mean, shouldn't there be a door or something by now?"

Jill nodded in the direction ahead. There was a door, a plain door. It stood out from the rest; it wasn't the dull silver color of others. No, it was wooden, and it appeared unpainted. Like someone had just cut a slab of wood, and screwed a doorknob on. 

Chris and Barry looked at each other, sharing a look of agreement. They then looked at everyone else. Claire, Rebecca, and Carlos trained their guns down the hall. Jill and Leon stood at the door, a few feet back, ready to back up Chris and Barry. Barry flattened himself against the wall next to the door, and twisted the knob slowly. Once the lever in the door released, Barry straightened his arm, knocking the door open. Chris barged in, assault rifle ready.

For the second time that day, he lost all control, and the rifle slipped from his hands. He stood frozen, jaw slack, eyes wide. His knees were weak, and he did all he could not to drop down and scream. 

Barry was the second to see the horrible thing. All the breath flew out of him suddenly, and he didn't know what to do. He couldn't very well shoot, it wasn't right. He knew it wasn't real but…

Claire ran forward as soon as she heard the rifle hit the ground, and saw the expression on Chris and Barry's faces. She ran through everyone, who was just as dumbfounded as her. They didn't know what was going on, Chris and Barry were the only ones with the visual. Somehow they weren't sure they wanted to see.

Chris came out of his shock, and turned toward the others. Claire was in front of him, now trying to push past his muscular frame.

"What's in there?" She asked quietly, forced calm in her voice.

He didn't reply, just looked at Barry pleadingly. He stepped in front of the entrance behind Chris, keeping his gun trained. Whatever was in there wasn't going to survive if it tried to come out, but it didn't seem like anything was trying, which further confused everyone who was too scared to ask.

"_Christopher_! What the _fuck_ is in that room?" She hissed, pushing with all her force to get through Chris and Barry.

Chris was slowly breaking, and his strength was weakening. Finally, he let go of Claire's arms, and let her pass. She pushed through Barry, peering into the room.

Her hands flew up to her mouth, unwanted tears springing to her eyes. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe, she was so confused and pained. The tears were flowing freely now, and she tore her eyes away, looking at Chris for guidance. Knowing he was in the same state as her, if not in more torment, she finally uttered one word, shocking the rest of the group.

"Mommy."

~ * * ~

**Author's Note: There you go, another cliffhanger/twist. Sorry for the lack of updates, you'd think it would be easy to just go through and upload chapters, so not the issue. Anyway, I said before Chapter 11 would be the finale, but after contemplating the material, the story is going to be stretched into a total of 12 Chapters. Chapter 11 is a little more than halfway done. Chapter 9 and 10 are already complete, so all you readers gotta do is review, and I'll post them. Now, it's 3 AM, and I'm going to work on Chapter 11…**


	9. Murderous Intent

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil or anything associated with it. I do however, own the story.

Corruption

Chapter Nine: Murderous Intent

"What do I do Chris?" Barry asked. "It's starting to come after us."

"Kill it." He whispered, holding Claire, who was sobbing uncontrollably.

Jill stepped forward to see the monstrosity. Other than the Redfields, and Barry, she was the only other one other than Rebecca, who'd seen pictures of Chris' parents. A cry caught in her throat as she realized that it definitely was Chris' mother. It had the same dark hair, and emerald green eyes as in the family picture Chris had on his desk. It was taken a month before their parents had died. Jill could picture it vividly in her mind. Their father, with his light brown, almost blonde, hair, and the pure blue-gray eyes that both Chris and Claire had inherited, lit up with joy, a loving arm placed around his wife. Her dark brown hair, which Claire and Chris had been given, to the shoulders, the emerald eyes looking up at her husband, a smile across her features. Chris was to the side, with and eight year old Claire on his back. Claire was laughing, and her front two teeth had been missing, giving her a comical appearance. Her hair was, as usual, pulled back into a ponytail. Chris, who Jill could remember was still handsome at fourteen, was smirking in the way he still often did.

Her thoughts were interrupted, as Barry pumped the rifle. She backed away, and cast a frightened look to Chris, who was still cradling his sister. Claire's sobs were quieter now, her shoulders rising and falling in steady motions. Her face was buried into his bare shoulder, and his face in return resting atop her head. 

Barry fired the shot, and then the _thump_ of the body followed. Chris grimaced in pain, biting back the tears. Claire let out a strangled cry, and pushed away from her brother. At first they thought she was going to go into the room, and Barry slammed the door quickly. The younger Redfield twisted on her heel though, and landed right in the arms of Leon.

Leon didn't know what to do, if Chris needed Claire, if it should be them together, or what he should do. He looked at Chris, who nodded at him. Leon took this as _'Just hold her, she needs you right now'_, and he did, hugging her tight. 

"I love you." He whispered so quietly into her ear, he wasn't sure if she'd heard him. When she squeezed his back, he knew she'd heard him.

Rebecca had turned to Carlos tears falling down her face. Carlos stood in shock, with Rebecca in his arms. He was worried, what if they cloned his parents. Chris and Claire were keeping it together better than he would have. It gave him a new respect for the two. They were so strong, Chris thinking he'd lost Claire and Jill, and possibly a child. Carlos knew if he'd have been Chris, he would have ignored Leon's protest, and ended it.

Barry stood back, dropping the rifle. He was in disbelief that they could clone anyone. Cloning any of _them_, wasn't so surprising, but _relatives_? Cathy and his girls came to mind. He'd been blackmailed once for the reason of protecting his family. Wesker was trying to break them, causing them to fall apart.

Chris stood silently, watching Leon and Claire. It didn't anger him that Claire didn't want to be with him. She needed someone stronger right now, and Chris was the weakest of them at the moment. He turned knowing Jill would be there. He wrapped his arms around her, and the two stood there, holding each other.

"Chris." She mumbled softly, running her hands through his matted hair. He relaxed a little at her touch, basking in the silence and warmth of the room. Jill drew in a breath, "You've gotta remember they're not real." 

He tensed again. "I know but…"

"Ssh, I know it seems real." She whispered. "When I saw the clone of you, I didn't shoot it, I waited on a stray bullet to hit it." She admitted. 

He stood there, feeling a ripple of emotions again. They were screwed, he concluded. Wesker would clone anybody, to stop them. How were they supposed to kill their parents?

Barry observed the people before him. Claire had stopped crying, and Chris had stopped also, Rebecca and Carlos were in shock, and Leon and Jill were too consumed in their lovers to care about anything else. 

"Is everyone okay?" He asked.

Carlos and Rebecca nodded, and he looked to Leon and Claire, then to Chris and Jill.

"Claire, are you okay? Come on baby, we have to go." Leon whispered into her hair. He then realized that even though what he said was intentioned well, it probably seemed inconsiderate. "I mean, if you don't want to…if you need m-more time then you know I'll tell them to go to hell a-and…" He sputtered.

She looked up at him, with red and puffy eyes. They were bloodshot, but still blinding and radiant. "It's okay Leon. You don't have to act all tough, I know it's not real, just things are getting to me."

"Exactly, it's not real. Hey! Wait what are you talking about? I am tough." He joked.

Claire laughed softly, causing Leon to smile and laugh.

"Chris? Come one we gotta go kick some ass." Jill said into his shoulder.

He nodded. "Damn straight." Chris turned to the rest of the group. "Who is ready to kill these bastards and get the hell outta here?"

"Hell yeah!" Barry exclaimed.

"Wait, before we leave I got one thing to say…I got dibs on Wesker." Chris replied.

Claire walked up to her brother. "Not if I get there first." 

~ * * ~

When they got in the room, Carlos and Leon rolled the body out of the room. They figured it was the least they could do, everyone else in there knew the body. 

"Look Chris, another computer." Rebecca said in a taunting voice.

He grinned, hopping over the small desk's entrance door, and started typing. He knew he had to act in a better mood, even if he was just _acting_. When it asked for the password, Chris typed in _Umbrella_.

"ACCESS DENIED!" It beeped and screamed at him.

"God damn it, you mother fucking piece of sh-" Chris caught the look Rebecca was giving him. "You wonderful piece of machinery, let's not yell at me again okay? Now be a good technological advancement." His voice changed from menacing to a forced sweet singsong voice.

"Okay Chris, before we endure another one of your rants, get your ass outta the way." Jill said, pushing him to her side.

"Try Ashford." Claire replied.

"ACCESS DENIED!"

"Wesker?" Barry said hopefully.

"ACCESS DENIED!"

"Albert." Rebecca stated.

"ACCESS DENIED!"

"Raccoon." Leon said.

"ACCESS DENIED!"

"Spencer?" Chris said.

"ACCESS DENIED!"

"U.B.C.S.?" Carlos said, clueless.

"ACCESS DENIED!"

"Have we tried S.T.A.R.S.?" Jill asked.

Chris' eyes lit up.

"ACCESS GRANTED!"

The computer beeped and the central network of the whole building was brought up before their eyes.

Jill immediately began searching for the self-destruct system.

"Got it." She replied. 

"Are you sure you want to set the self-destruct system?" The computerized voice asked.

"Yes." They all chorused.

"Once activated, you will have thirty minutes to get out."

Jill tapped the '_Y_' button.

"Please entered new password."

"Fuck!" She hissed.

She typed in S.T.A.R.S., hoping, praying the password was the same.

"ACCESS DENIED!" The computer's monotone voice rang.

They also registered another deep, familiar voice that they had all grown to hate, chorused with it.

A fist slammed down through the screen, shattering glass, chips and wires. Jill jumped back, and Chris shoved her behind him.

"Redfield."

"What?" Chris and Claire snarled.

"That was the password to your almost escape." Wesker growled.

"What is the sick obsession you jackass?" Leon ground out.

Wesker said nothing, just simply sent him flying across the room, and into Barry. The two fell with a loud crash into a set of stacked chairs.

"I don't like him Claire." Wesker said, diverting his attention the fuming mad girl. "I never liked Burton either." He added.

"I don't really like you either Wesker." She growled. Her hand came in contact with his face, sending his glasses flying across the floor.

"Bitch."

"Asshole." She spat, smacking him again.

He picked her up.

Trying to get his attention, Carlos stomped on his glasses. Wesker slung Claire over toward Leon and Barry.

"Shit Claire are you okay?" Leon coughed.

"Yeah." She mumbled.

"You worked for me." Wesker said.

"We all make mistakes." Carlos retorted, slamming his rifle into Wesker's jaw.

Wesker rubbed the spot. "How did you get on the force? You've got very little strength."

"But I do." Chris said, tackling Wesker to the floor.

Carlos aimed the sniper, but Wesker slung Chris off his back, and into Carlos. The sniper was sent flying across the floor. Rebecca snatched it, and pumped it back.

Wesker lifted Carlos and Chris up, leaving them both fighting for air. 

"Such stupid, worthless men, especially you Chris. Crying for something unreal, even after you knew what I was capable of doing." His grip became tighter on the men's throats. "You're lucky I don't crush your necks." He contracted his hands to prove he could. 

Rebecca aimed for Wesker's foot, the only place where Carlos and Chris weren't in the way. The bullet slammed into his boot. Wesker dropped the men on the ground, Carlos' elbow driving into Chris' already broken ribs. Chris howled in pain.

"You-" Wesker started toward Rebecca, and shot his fist out, sending her into the wall. 

Leon, Claire, Barry, and Jill dove into the Tyrant, knocking him to the ground. Leon pummeled his face, and Barry viciously kicked at Wesker, who merely laughed.

He caught Leon by the wrist, and squeezed. For any normal human, Leon wouldn't have felt the squeeze, but Wesker began crushing the bone. Leon screamed in pain, and Wesker used his other hand to push the cop off of him. He caught Barry's leg, and twisted ankle around until he heard it _snap_, and Barry fell back onto the ground.

Jill took a broken piece of wood from one of the chairs that had been smashed, and swung it at his face.

"Oh Jillian, you know better than that." He snatched the wood out of her hand. "This will only give me a splinter." He pushed her to the ground.

Claire kicked him in the back of the knee, and in a second, she was down. His breath was on her ear. "Oh, you'll do. What good are Jill and Rebecca if they're knocked out?"

"You would know how good someone would be if they were asleep. You were one of the guys at the parties putting drugs in girls' drinks you freak." She hissed.

Wesker twisted her hand back, and used his other hand to bend her elbow, it made a sickening _crack._ She bit back the shriek and spit in his face. Chris hurled himself into him before he could retaliate. Wesker immediately grabbed Chris' injured side, and began pushing and twisting his hand.

"Yeah, you got that injury trying to play hero back at Spencer didn't you? Here's another one for it." Wesker stood up, kicking him in the side repeatedly. 

Rebecca picked up the rifle, trying to fire, but it was out of bullets. Barry raised his Colt, and fired at Wesker. He could sense the bullet, and in seconds he was at Barry, breaking the Colt, and slamming the crushed mass into his head, rendering him unconscience. Leon grabbed the knife from his belt, and tossed it to Jill who was standing closer. Leon fired his Sigpro, the shots entering Wesker's shoulders, chest, and abdomen, where Chris' stab wound had healed. 

"I'm indestructible." Wesker growled.

"I don't think so." Jill replied, stabbing the knife into his Adam's Apple.

Wesker actually felt the pain, and Jill slammed it into him again, this time right behind his ear. He elbowed backward and sent Jill sprawled across the floor next to Claire. Leon's Sigpro ran out of bullets after two more shots, which Wesker avoided. He kicked Leon, who flew back into Rebecca and Carlos. 

"You are lucky that I've been the only one you've had to deal with. Why do you think only zombies, soldiers, and those hunters are the only thing you've had to kill? I'm the only one here who knows where the self-destruct system is. I doubt you'll be finding it, but that level you won't go to, there's things down there, and I'm going to release them." Wesker growled. He stumbled back toward the door they'd entered from, and slammed it so hard it split down the middle.

Jill crawled over to Chris, who was curled in fetal position, and coughing up blood. He had a black eye, and was bleeding somewhere out of his head. "Oh God, we need a doctor."

"N-no." Chris sputtered. "We've gotta find the self-destruct. I'm fine." He said quickly. He tried to sit up, but once again howled in pain.

Claire crawled over where Barry and Leon were laying. "Barry?"

Barry slowly opened his eyes.

"Leon!" Claire yelled. 

"God damn it. He broke my fucking wrist."

"Rebecca!" Claire called.

Rebecca cradled her head. "Yeah?"

"You're a medic a-an-and…" Claire stuttered.

"I don't think Wesker will be back for a while. I'll check everyone." She replied.

"You don't have to if you're in pain." Claire replied.

"I just banged my head. I'll live." Rebecca looked at the team, and figured she better go look at Chris first. He appeared to be in the worst state of health. "Okay, Chris lay flat."

He winced and ground his teeth together, but finally got flat. Rebecca touched his side softly, applying pressure to a different spot.

"SHIT!" He screamed.

"There's one broken rib." Rebecca muttered.

"W-what are you doing? Why are you doing that?" Jill asked, gripping Chris' hand lightly.

"I've got to find out where the ribs are broken. That way we can find out where to put pressure." 

"What? No! No pressure, I went through that shit last time and I'm not doing it again." Chris hissed. "That is unless you've got some really strong pain killers laying around." He added.

"No, if I did I'd be using them for my headache." She retorted. After pressing around some more, she concluded, "He's got at least two broken ribs, I think a few are bruised." 

"What about his head?" Jill asked.

Rebecca unclipped the medical pouch she had on her belt, and pulled out some gauze, wiping the blood away. "I can't wrap him up, it's on the very top of his head, he's probably going to need stitches."

Jill nodded. 

"What about you, you okay?" Rebecca asked.

"Just bruised." She replied. "I think you better look at Claire and them."

Rebecca stood up, and headed toward Claire, whose arm was hanging limply at her side. 

"Okay, Leon take your shirt off." Rebecca said.

"What?" Leon and Claire chorused.

"I need some sort of fabric for Claire's arm, I've got to fashion a sling." Rebecca replied.

Leon pulled at the already torn shirt, slowly pulling it over his battered body. Carlos hobbled over, holding his knee.

"Can you help me rip this?" She asked.

He nodded, wincing as he lifted his elbow, and ripped the shirt to shreds. Rebecca slung part of the material over Claire's shoulder, and tied the rest of the material together, forming a make shift sling, "Now this is the part that's gonna hurt." She said. Claire nodded. She lightly took hold of the arm, and began lifting it, and bending it into the sling.

"Shit, damn, fuck, hell, God damn!" Claire shrieked.

"I warned you." Rebecca said.

Claire glared. Rebecca looked to Leon, who was drawing in sharp breaths, staring at the wrist.

"Leon, I need you to try and straighten it." Rebecca said.

Leon moved the wrist, sucking air in through his teeth.

"Okay, it's fixable, there won't be any permanent damage to him. As long as he can move it, he's okay." Rebecca said, taking two pieces of shattered wood, and placing them on Leon's wrist, and wrapped the shirt material around tightly. She tied it in a knot. "Now, don't use the hand, or the doctors won't be able to fix it." She then turned her attention to Barry. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Four?" He mumbled.

"Okay, no concussion, if you've got one it's minor. Do you feel nauseous?"

"Doesn't everyone?"

"What about your ankle, can you move it?" 

Barry exerted his energy, but couldn't move it. He reached down, and removed the shoelaces from the boot. He slowly slid the shoe off. "I'm guessing that's not good." Barry said, looking at the bone, nearly piercing through the skin. Rebecca shook her head, and began fashioning another splint.

"Carlos?"

"Knee's bruised, that's it." He muttered, rubbing it softly.

"Okay, I'm going to estimate that only two are out of walking." Leon said looking from Barry to Chris. "But we're not going anywhere without anyone." He quickly added.

"I can walk." Chris mumbled. To prove his point, he crawled to his feet, and pushed himself up. He felt like falling back down, but he stayed standing, slightly hunched over. "I ran like hell in Spencer with them, I'll do it again."

"Okay, I say we get back to the autopsy room, and steal a gurney to put these two on." Carlos said.

"That would be a good idea, except for the gate is probably still down. They wouldn't be on them long." Claire answered.

"Default system activated! All doors released!"

"Bet it's not now." Carlos quipped.

~ * * ~

****

Author's Note: The team took a hard hit, emotionally and physically. I only got one review for the last chapter…but I'm going to post this one and see how this does. The story is almost over, Chapter Twelve is the last one, and I just finished it. So the story is complete, and saved onto Microsoft Word, all you gotta do is review. If you do review, I'll be motivated to post faster. Now I got a question, how do you feel about a sequel? Let me know in your review, or instant-message me on AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), my screen name is in my profile. Please read and review, thanks!


	10. Desperate Attempts

****

Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with Resident Evil. I do however, own the story.

Corruption

Chapter Ten: Desperate Attempts

Carlos wrapped an arm under Barry, helping him up. Rebecca got under Barry's other arm, and they helped him through the doorway. Jill and Leon in turn, got Chris up. He protested, claiming he didn't need their help, but Jill glared at him until he gave in. Claire couldn't help due to her arm, so she walked in between Carlos, Barry, Rebecca and Chris, Jill, and Leon, mumbling about her arm.

"I hate this hallway." Chris grumbled.

Suddenly, a spray of water hit Jill, Chris, and Leon. They looked up, seeing a small sprinkler. Looking ahead, two more sprinklers came down from the ceiling, and continued down the hall.

"Shit." Chris muttered, breaking loose from Jill and Leon. He grimaced, and held his side, as he limped toward the door they'd just exited. A metallic gate, like the one at the stairs, was in the place of the split door. He grabbed the sniper off of Carlos' back, and aimed down the hall. The magnified vision didn't surprise him. The door was sealed, just like the others. "Fuck!" He hissed.

"What is it?" Jill asked.

"We're trapped. The asshole has everything sealed off. Meaning, if we don't get out of here, or stop those sprinklers…we drown." Chris looked up at the flow of water in his face.

"How do we stop the sprinklers?" Claire asked, looking at the water puddles at her feet.

"Break them?" Barry suggested.

"No, that would cause a heavier flow." Leon replied.

"We could shoot our way out." Carlos removed his gun.

"If you have any ounce of intelligence, you will not do that." Barry said, grabbing the gun.

"Why not? You're just pissed because you didn't think of it, and your Colt got destroyed." Carlos retorted.

"You dumbass, the bullet will ricochet." Barry replied. His eyes then grew wide. "My _what_ got destroyed?"

Carlos backed up. "Your Colt." He whispered. "That's why you got knocked out, Wesker crushed it and smashed it over your head."

"That motherfucker." Barry growled.

"Hey! More important issues like drowning here!" Rebecca scolded.

Barry and Carlos scoffed. 

Chris began running as fast as he could go in his condition. His vision was blurring, and he began to get dizzy, and the footsteps and splashes of the others were becoming deafening. He continued on, until he finally met the entrance to the hallway. He dropped down, feeling for any holes. He found that one spot wasn't wet. He pushed at it, and felt it budge. "Carlos, you don't have any injuries to your hands do you?" He shook his head. "Good, you see this spot?" Chris pointed. Carlos nodded again. "Slam your gun into it. Eventually it will pop out."

"What good will that do?" Carlos asked, taking the gun from Chris.

Chris kicked at the water. "It'll let some of this out."

"Yeah, but not much."

"It's better than none." Chris replied.

The water was rising to their shins now, and Carlos wasn't having much luck. The water kept getting in his eyes, affecting his aim. Not to mention the water was also causing everything to be slicker, also affecting his grip. When he slammed against the door, and jarred back, landing in the rising water, was his last straw. 

"That's it _señor_." He said, rubbing his now sore back.

"Becky? You injured?" Chris asked.

"Not nearly as bad as you." She replied, walking up to the door. Her aim was a little bit better than Carlos' was, but she didn't do much more damage, other than the small circle budged slightly.

"Hey Jill, you still got that knife?" Leon asked.

"Leon what are we going to do with a knife?" Claire turned, staring at him. She was a little taken aback, at what she saw. He was bruised and his hair was in his crystal eyes, but he looked very sexy wet.

"Yeah I've got it." Jill turned to Leon, with a questioning look. 

He smirked at Claire, and replied. "Maybe you can pry it out?"

"That's actually not a bad idea," Chris said. He glanced at Jill. "Still got my knife?"

"Yeah." She replied.

"Good. And Claire?"

"Yeah bro?"

"Catch your drool."

Her cheeks tinted slightly, but quickly she quipped, "Like Jill wasn't just drooling over you."

Chris and Jill both glared.

Jill wedged the knife into the small space, and pushed down. The blade bent dangerously, but eventually the circle popped out slightly. She was able to push it on through. "Victory is ours."

Chris chuckled. "Have I told you how much I loved you lately?"

She grinned. "Not in last half-hour."

"Well then, I love you." Chris replied.

"And I love you too, but you look like shit." She replied.

"He always looks like shit." Claire replied sarcastically. "Now, since that little thing is out, what do we do?"

"I haven't figured that out yet." Chris replied.

The water was steadily rising, and was now above their knees. Rebecca and Carlos were leaned against one wall, and Barry was leaned a few feet beside them holding his broken ankle above the water. His arm was stretched out for support and balance. Chris was propped against the metal gate, holding his ribs. Blood was streaking down the side of his face among the dirt and grime the others possessed. Jill was standing next to him, rubbing the bruise on her jaw. Leon and Claire were holding each other the best they could with their injuries. 

Claire kicked in the water. "So what are we doing, waiting on it to get high enough to swim in?" She looked at the battered group. "Here's a game, we'll dive for bullets." She added, sarcasm in her voice. 

Leon looked down at the water. "If we can even see to the bottom. Look at all this shit."

"That's it, you two are geniuses." Barry said suddenly. 

Carlos, Rebecca, Jill, and Chris looked at him puzzled. 

"Well, you know bickering eventually pays off." He replied.

"What are you talking about? We don't bicker." Carlos replied.

"Yes we do." Rebecca answered.

"No we don't-" Carlos stopped. "Okay, we do."

"Don't worry. Chris and Jill do it more than you."

"Do not!" They both argued.

"Okay, whatever I would like to know why we're geniuses?" Leon said, ignoring the comments.

"Why would they flood the hall?" Barry asked.

"Well…because they're insane." Jill retorted.

"No, now I know why this hall is so long. If you didn't want someone to look on the ceiling what would you do?" Barry said excitedly.

"Um…cover it?" Rebecca answered.

"Exactly. So if you didn't want someone to look on the ground you'd…."

"Cover it!" Carlos answered, diving into the water. 

"Okay Bec and Carlos look down here. Chris and Jill, you look down there where the other door is. Claire, Leon, and me will meet in the middle." Barry ordered.

~ * * ~

Chris and Jill trudged through the water, and down the hallway. Jill let Chris lean on her for support. When they finally reached the end, Jill helped Chris lower himself down. 

"You know it's gonna be hell getting back up right?" Chris said bitterly.

"How bad do they hurt?" She asked, feeling the floor for anything.

"Not as bad as it did when I though I'd lost you." He said softly.

She stared up in his eyes. "You're too sweet for your own good."

He grinned, "I'll take that as a compliment."

She slid closer to him, and met his lips. She knew he was holding back feelings, Chris may have broken down once, but he hadn't when Claire had, and Jill knew in the worst of times, Chris would still bottle emotions. She didn't want to badger him though, She knew it wouldn't get then anywhere soon and he'd eventually tell her when something was wrong. They pulled back reluctantly, focusing on the task at hand.

Leon and Claire were scampering around with their good hands, trying not to drown. Barry was trying not to laugh at their comical antics. They looked like fish out of water, but he wasn't going to say anything to further piss them off. He batted at the water, trying to make it some amount of clear. He prayed they could get out of there soon, his ankle was killing him, and had started to bleed from the pressure the bone was applying form trying to pierce the skin. 

Carlos was feeling around when he found something soft. He looked up at Rebecca, and pulled his hand from her thigh. She giggled slightly, scraping her hand across the bottom. Carlos' hand met hers on something slick, something with a keyhole in it. They looked at each other and both shouted, "JILL!"

Everyone shot their heads toward the end of the hall, alarmed. Chris pulled up too quick, and gasped at the pain. Jill grabbed him, and began dragging him down the hall through the now waist deep water. Leon and Claire jumped up grabbing Barry, trying not to apply pressure to their hurt arms. Barry let his foot drag through the water, as he was hauled through the murky river. They met at the end of the hall, looking at the young couple expectantly.

"You got your lock pick set?" Carlos asked.

Jill let go of Chris, and felt around in her pocket. "Shit." She mumbled. "They must've fallen out when Wesker threw me to the ground."

"What about the knife?" Rebecca asked quickly.

"Yeah." She dropped down in the water quickly. "What am I looking for?"

"Follow my hand." Rebecca replied guiding Jill's hand through the water, to the small indention.

Jill felt the small hole, and drove the knife into it, fiddling with it the best she could without actually seeing the lock. "I can't get it without seeing, I'm gonna go under." She said frustrated. Jill dropped down into the dark water, blinking the sting out of her eyes. She finally found the lock, and twisted the knife around. Finally, the lock clicked, and Jill rose up quickly, unsure of what was about to happen. She sucked in the clean air, and wiped the muck from her eyes. They were stinging, and blurry. Finally the picture came into focus. The water was draining down into a hole Jill had opened.

"Thank God for that knife." Leon praised as the water rushed from their shoulders and down. "It's saved us what…three times?"

Chris nodded, but then became puzzled when his math didn't add up. "Wait, it got that hole in the door, and then just now."

"No, Jill stabbed that into Wesker twice, he got all…drunk." Leon replied.

"Wait why?" Chris asked, suddenly angered he hadn't seen what had happened.

"Leon gave Jill your knife, and she stabbed him in the throat, then she got him again. He started stumbling around, and slurring. Like Jill had injected him with something." Rebecca explained.

Chris shot Jill a _'Did you inject him with something?' _look. She shrugged.

"Wait Chris, did you stab him with the knife when you and Leon were in that room?" Rebecca asked.

"Yeah, in the side. Why?" Chris replied, looking at the young girl

The medic's eyes lit up. "Do you think maybe the virus counteracts itself?"

"Huh?" Carlos said, confused.

"Wesker's blood has the virus in it. If his blood was on the knife when Jill stabbed him, the virus would have re-entered his blood stream." She saw the confused stares and continued. "It's possible that whatever Tyrant Virus Wesker is infected with, could have totally opposite effects when met with already infected blood." 

"Okay, but wouldn't the blood be the same as before?" Barry looked down at the draining water.

"Not necessarily. The blood had dried, and it was also mixed with oxygen. Maybe the Virus remakes itself into a cure, or possibly another form of the Virus." Rebecca retorted.

"So you're saying that by stabbing him, I re-infected him?" Jill asked. "Well, if that's true, then we just stab him again."

"Well, the water washed all the blood off." Claire stated.

"But there would still be come residue." Rebecca replied. "Only problem is, I don't know what the Virus morphs into. It could be a cure, it could turn him into a zombie, or it could make him stronger."

"You had to say that?" Chris grumbled.

"Still, once we see what happens," Rebecca glared at Chris. "We'll know what to do."

"Guys!" Carlos shouted, pointing at the drained floor. "There's a ladder."

The group stared down at the dark hole.

"I don't like what has happened the last times I was in a sewer." Leon said, backing away.

"Me either." Chris answered.

"What if it leads to that one floor that's not on the map?" Claire said, staring down.

"Only one way to find out." Carlos answered, starting down the ladder.

"Um, Carlos, honey, isn't that where the water went?" Rebecca asked sweetly.

"If you see another way out of that damn hallway, tell me." Carlos called.

She took a look around, and headed toward Carlos. Jill and Leon helped Barry down the ladder, who proceeded to hop down, rung to rung. He was fairly used to it, and climbing down, was easier than climbing up with a broken ankle. Chris hobbled toward the hole, easing his way down, trying not to strain himself anymore than he already had. Claire and Leon followed, their arms hanging limply, and Jill came down behind.

~ * * ~

Upon climbing off the ladder, they noticed something was wrong. There was no water. It was dark, except for a beam of light somewhere down the stretch.

"Did we die? I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel." Leon remarked.

"We could only be so lucky." Carlos replied, letting Barry lean on him for support.

They moved down the hall cautiously. They were low on weapons, and if this was actually the unmarked floor, they would need more than luck. Chris refused offers to help him, and continued down the hallway, at a faster rate than should have in his condition. Causing Jill and Claire to swear at him for being incompetent and stubborn. 

"Chris-" Rebecca began to start in after she grew tired of the feuding between Jill, Claire, and Chris.

"Becky don't start."

"Chris legally I'm a doctor. I have the degree to be one. So you know what? I'm going to tell you to get your ass over there next to your girlfriend, and let her help you." Rebecca retorted, startling Chris. "_Doctor's orders_."

He scoffed and limped toward his waiting girlfriend with a sheepish smile on his face. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and she placed her arm around his waist, supporting him. They all headed toward the light, with complete silence. When they reached the light, they found it was pouring in from a window. Peering in, all they saw was an office almost like the S.T.A.R.S. Office that Rebecca, Barry, Jill, and Chris were so familiar with. Carlos twisted the handle, and stepped in. Something didn't feel right. It was so quiet, and it was hot, despite the fact they were soaked with freezing water.

After a quick exploration, they found nothing, except for an answer to their prayers. In reality, it was just two office chairs, with wheels. Barry welcomed the seat, but Chris protested.

"I do not trust any one of these people to push me around in this chair." 

"_Redfield_, get your ass in that chair." Barry growled at him. "They're comfortable."

Chris slowly sank down into the cloth.

"You know you are so stubborn-"

"Yes I know." Chris cut in on Jill.

Jill promptly took control of the chair, to Chris' alarm. 

"Let's see what's behind door number two." Leon said, in a faux announcer voice.

Carlos took hold of Barry's chair, and Rebecca jerked the door open, raising her Beretta.

"Oh shit."

There were many capsules, large ones like the ones Tyrants were stored in. At least thirty cages were opened, and there were two bloody corpses, that were brutally mutilated.

"Yep, I'd say this was the unmarked floor." Chris said, as Jill pushed him passed the cages and bodies.

"Let's just pray that whatever ate them, ain't in here anymore." Barry said, as Carlos wheeled him past the bodies also.

There was no sign of Wesker anywhere, and the team was beginning to worry there was no way out of the hell hole, other than _death_. Jill wheeled Chris passed a desk, and he stomped his feet on the ground. Causing Jill to almost fall forward. Ignoring the glare he was receiving, he pointed at the small sign on the wall.

__

In case of fire, please use stairs.

"Wow Chris, you're not illiterate." Claire remarked.

Chris scoffed, "Where did we see those signs at he R.P.D.?"

"Near the elevator. Holy shit!" Jill exclaimed.

"Well, so where is it?" Leon asked.

They scanned the room, and found their elevator. It was a lift really, one that wouldn't lift all seven of them.

"Okay, injured up first." Rebecca said.

They wheeled Chris and Barry on, and Claire and Leon scrunched into the corner. They pressed the arrow. The four disappeared, and a minute later, the lift came back down. Jill, Rebecca, and Carlos got on the lift, and pressed up. The lift didn't budge.

"What the fuck?" Carlos began pressing the button rapidly.

__

Click-click, click-click, click-click, click-click.

"Shit." Rebecca and Jill chorused as the green reptiles rounded the corner.

~ * * ~

"Something's wrong." Chris said, trying to get up from his chair, but failing.

"Nothing is wrong. You're just worried because Jill is down there and you're not." Claire replied.

"And if Leon was down there?" Chris retorted.

"But he's not so…" Claire said, standing closer to Leon.

"No, I think Chris is right. They should have been up here by now." Barry stared down where the lift should be, but all he could see was black.

"Jill's probably prying Carlos and Rebecca of each other, I swear those two-" Leon was interrupted by gunshots.

Chris stood up out of his chair, ignoring the blinding pain. He quickly estimated how far they'd gone up. It could only be twenty feet or so.

"Chris, don't." Barry scolded. "You wanna break your neck?"

He knew Barry was right. There was no way he could make it with his broken ribs. Chris leaned over, listening. He then heard the dreaded voice. "Wesker's down there!" He yelled.

"Fuck." Claire said, standing next to Chris.

Leon and Barry shared worried looks. If Chris jumped, Claire might follow. 

Leon pressed the call button for the lift. It didn't come up. He ran out to the door, seeing nothing another hallway like the one they'd experienced before. Six doors lined each side. "Hallway full of doors."

Chris looked at Claire, then to Barry, and finally at Leon. "I can't lose them. We can't lose them."

"Chris you need to stop. You are going to get yourself killed playing heroics. Wesker's right." Barry growled at him.

"I am not going to let Becky die. She's the best damn medic we've got. Carlos is her world, and Jill is mine." He growled back.

"You can't go." Claire said, grabbing his arm.

"Chris, remember what we talked about earlier?" Leon added.

There was a loud crash, and yells from downstairs. 

Chris turned, and gave one last look, before leaping off the edge.

~ * * ~

****

Author's Note: Uh-oh, will Chris live? Will Jill, Carlos, and Rebecca survive? Will Claire jump after him? Will- Okay, I'll stop now. I got a few reviews last chapter, not too disappointing…Anyway, like I said last chapter, I'm thinking about doing a sequel, I need your opinion so tell me in your review, or contact me on AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), my screen name is in my profile. Thanks for the reviews, and please review again…it motivates me.


	11. Life Or Death

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil or anything associated with it. I do however, own this story.

Corruption

Chapter Eleven: Life or Death

Chris was falling. That's when it dawned on him that this was a really bad idea. It was the only way though. There had been no emergency ladders up the side, nothing. He had made a quick decision, and he probably wouldn't be able to help anyway once he hit, unless he could land on his feet. He braced an arm out, and tried to push himself vertical. Gravity was having its way though, and he stayed horizontal.

"This is gonna hurt." He mumbled as he realized he was going to hit on his ribs. 

He saw the bottom coming up. The noises from the fight were getting louder, and suddenly, he crashed into the metal on his back.

~ * * ~

"CHRIS!" Claire screamed.

Barry's jaw went slack. Leon began pressing the call button over and over, praying to God it would catch. He grabbed Claire's hand; scared to death she was going to jump after him. She wasn't crying, her eyes were growing wider. He looked to Barry, whose jaw stayed slack still, but a smile was growing on his face. Either they'd lost it or…

The lift was moving, coming up. Chris had a chance. The metallic crash and rattling noise followed. There was no sound from Chris as the lift came up. It stopped at their feet, and Chris was lying there, not moving.

"Chris!" Claire gasped.

"Ow." He grasped his side. His eyes opened fully. "Well I know I'm not in heaven. Claire's here." He remarked.

"Shut up, we just saved your ass." She remarked. Quickly pushing Barry onto the lift and hauling Leon on with her. The lift went to down to the floor, and as soon as it hit, the team was slowly removing themselves from the lift.

"Well isn't this something?" Wesker remarked, looking at the group. He tossed Carlos to the side, and started toward them.

Chris surveyed his teammates. Jill was slowly dragging herself to her feet, and she was coughing and limping slightly. Rebecca was clutching the back of her head, and was bleeding. Carlos was clutching his knee, and moaning in pain. This definitely wasn't good. Claire drew her gun, and shot at Wesker, who stood unfazed, still walking arrogantly toward the group. Jill slung a book at the Tyrant, causing him to turn his head. That's when they saw it. From the side view, they could see the reptilian eyes had changed. They were a light green now. Chris didn't know if those were Wesker's real eyes, or if they were simply a symptom of the Virus he had. No one had ever seen Wesker's real eyes, they were always covered by his shades, but when he stared, it felt like he was burning a hole in you despite the glasses. The side of his face was also getting paler. Claire, and Leon, who had joined in, continued shooting at a closing Wesker. He ripped the guns from their hands, and slung them across the room. Chris grabbed Wesker's foot as he proceeded to get Leon and Claire. Wesker fell down, but quickly reacted by grasping Chris by the neck, and slinging him in the opposite direction. He then grabbed Barry's chair, and tipped it into Claire and Leon, causing all three to crash to the ground painfully.

Chris landed next to Jill, who was leaned against the desk, holding her leg off the ground. He clutched his arm this time, as it crashed into a ridge in the ground. He looked up, seeing Jill staring down at him.

"Did you see his eyes?"

Jill shook her head.

"They're green." He replied looking at her leg which was very bruised. "What happened to you?"

"Bastard kicked me in the shins, _hard_." Jill said bitterly. "What about you?"

"I either dislocated my shoulder, or just bruised it really bad." He answered.

Rebecca's vision was very unclear, and she found it hard to breathe. The wave of nausea followed. She knew she had a concussion, but she couldn't let it get to her. _'Don't pass out. No don't let it get to you. You have to help the others.' _She said to herself over and over. Finally after blinking for the billionth time, she regained her clear vision, but the room was still spinning. She felt herself begin to fall, until a pair of very strong arms caught her.

"Carlos?" She asked weakly.

"Yeah Bec?" He answered her, slowly towing them away from the battle.

"I don't feel so good."

Leon and Claire rolled the chair off of them, and looked to Barry, who was breathing heavily, clutching his foot. They didn't need to remove the sock to see what had happened. The strange bulge and the blood pouring was enough caution that the bone had broken through the skin due to the fall they'd just endured. Leon looked up, seeing Wesker starting toward them again. Claire was taking care of Barry, helping him move away from the chair. Leon stood up, barreling into Wesker. He went to fire his Sigpro only hearing it to _click_ empty. Wesker grinned, using his Tyrant strength to lift him up. He was seconds from snapping Leon's neck, until Chris locked his arms around Wesker's waist, and Jill stabbed the knife in him repeatedly, each time in a vital place.

Wesker dropped Leon, who quickly rolled away from the monster. Wesker was stumbling around, looking at his wounds. Blood was pouring, out of the multiple stab wounds. He knew there was one in his neck, one in his chest area, close to his heart, another few were in his stomach. The Virus was kicking in, he could feel the stinging sensation, but he could also feel pain. _Pain_ was something he couldn't feel. It came with the package. Inhuman strength, great speed and agility, enhanced vision and hearing, advanced healing, and virtually no pain. 

"What did you do to me?" Wesker hissed.

"Do you not know your own Virus?" Chris retorted.

Wesker growled, and fell to his knees, sucking in short breaths. "I know I shouldn't be feeling."

"Yeah, it hurts doesn't it?" Jill muttered.

"What did you do?" Wesker repeated.

"We discovered that by re-injecting your own blood back into you, the Virus counteracts itself, meaning it makes you _human_." Chris replied.

"That's impossible." Wesker countered.

Chris kicked his leg into Wesker, who weakly rolled over. Chris leaned over, ignoring the pain. "Tell me how you made those clones."

~ * * ~

Leon looked down at a knocked over desk. There was a file on the ground. He picked it up, leafing through it. His eyes lit up, and he sprinted over toward Carlos and Rebecca. "Becky, this is like the guide to killing Wesker."

"Huh?" She mumbled groggily.

"Leon, she's a bit-" Carlos started to explain.

"What's this?" Rebecca asked, cutting him off.

"It's like an explanation to those clones." Leon answered.

Rebecca began reading through it, and with every page, her eyes grew wider. "Go get Chris, tell him to knock Wesker out."

"Why can't we just kill him?" Carlos asked, looking at the file.

"This says that if the Virus is injected into an already infected recipient, it will start to cure the person. It's some sort of fail safe to keep someone from morphing into something completely indestructible." Rebecca replied.

"Why? Isn't that what Umbrella has been trying to do? Make something we couldn't kill?" Leon asked.

"Yeah, but Umbrella hasn't perfected the virus. His brain would turn to mush."

"Well, why don't we do it, he'd be easier to kill, like those zombies?" Carlos asked, looking over at Claire and Barry.

"Because we'd have a very strong idiot on our hands. That could be more lethal than Wesker, they also did it because Umbrella still doesn't trust Wesker." Rebecca replied.

"Okay, but we could kill him now." Leon answered.

"No, the virus won't react fully for another twenty four hours. It's going to react like it would if he got hurt, it's going to return him back to his Tyrant form." Rebecca retorted hastily. "Now go help knock him out!"

~ * * ~

"You can take anyone's DNA Redfield, with the technology in this very room and a body, and make a clone in less than an hour." Wesker coughed.

"How'd you get my parent's DNA?" Chris asked.

"We've got friends everywhere, including the mortuary."

"You dug up my parents?" Chris hissed.

"Don't worry, they weren't harmed." Wesker said smugly.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you right now!" Chris tightened his grip on Wesker's throat.

Carlos slammed a chair leg into Wesker's head. The Tyrant's eyes rolled backward into his head. "Doctor's orders." He replied.

~ * * ~

After putting Wesker in one of the industrial strength cages, Rebecca began to explain her plan.

"Basically, we are too injured to kill this bastard. Without knowing where the self-destruct system is, and knowing there's a shit load of B.O.W.s out there, we have to fight fire with fire." 

"What do you mean?" Barry asked.

"Well this book is like the chronicles of Umbrella, everything we need to expose them. Discs, files, plans, grids, outlines, etc. It explains everything about our situation. In a summary, Wesker double-crossed the company he fucked Umbrella over for, and came back to Umbrella new and improved. The company that saved him in the mansion, HCF, had only one facility out in Nebraska, and Wesker decimated it. He stole all the information Umbrella needed, and brought it to them. They graciously accepted, and began working with the Virus. They didn't trust Wesker, so instead of telling him that they were injecting him with a fail safe, they told him it would enhance his abilities further." Rebecca stopped as Jill began to talk.

"So Wesker believed that he was being injected with an advanced form, even though it was their fail safe for protection against him?"

Rebecca nodded at Jill. "It worked like a placebo. He believes he's better than he was before. Umbrella didn't trust him one bit, but they didn't say anything because his Virus was vital to the company's research. There are a few pages that are handwritten, like they came from a diary. It's from a researcher. They said that Wesker murdered the last remaining Spencer, who was current owner of the company. He killed everyone, except for head researchers and soldiers. He made the company his, and destroyed any evidence of the other company. He began working on the clones, and enhancing everything else, leaving only little trace of what Umbrella used to be. Wesker knew we were coming, he made everything to psychologically damage us. He wasn't prepared for us to come so soon though. There are reports of two specimens he was working on, his diary is in here also, I haven't read it yet."

"Okay, but how do you plan on killing him. We could do it right now!" Chris aimed the gun at Wesker's unconscious form.

"Don't." Rebecca replied sternly. "It won't kill him right now. The Virus is trying to turn him human, and if we interfere with it, it won't work. It says that if something tries to kill him before the healing process is complete, the counteraction will stop, another fail safe." 

"What?"

"They didn't want Wesker dead. He's intelligent, and he kept blackmail on them. Only Spencer knew that injecting him with the virus would heal him in a twenty-four hour time period. The other fail-safe was that if someone other than them wanted him dead, they couldn't kill him. Anyone would kill Wesker on the spot, but the Virus wouldn't allow it, even if he hadn't been re-injected. The only way I've figured out, is to wait twenty-four hours, until he is healed, and then do it."

"We don't have twenty-four hours." Claire replied. "What if we decapitated him?"

"Right now, we can't harm him. He's awake." Rebecca replied.

"No he's not." Carlos said.

"No, his eyes aren't open, Wesker can't be knocked out…fully. He's got such enhanced senses, that he is fully aware of what's going on." Rebecca stated glumly.

"So he knows what we're talking about?" Leon asked incredulously.

Rebecca nodded. "Basically I'm all out of ideas, except for one."

"What's that?" Jill asked, eager to hear the medic's plan.

"I can't say, he'll know when he wakes up." Rebecca replied, much to the team's dismay. "But if you'll excuse me, I'm going to read up on his diary."

"Well while you do that, some of us could go look for the self-destruct system." Claire suggested.

"No." Chris immediately said. "I didn't enjoy last time we were separated."

~ * * ~

While Rebecca was skimming through Wesker's diary, everyone else began looking for things around the room, anything that could hint to the self-destruct system's location. They were also eager to know what the hell Rebecca had concocted in her mind. The young medic had always pulled through, even if she wasn't a top-notch soldier like the others, she held her own.

"Bec, your head okay?" Carlos asked worriedly.

She nodded, never glancing up from the diary. It held events from before Spencer, up until three days before they'd attacked. Chris had tried to get the diary from her, with no avail. Rebecca wanted it, and it took another scolding from Jill and Claire to get him away.

Rebecca set the diary down, and began searching the other contents of the folder. "Shit." She murmured.

Immediately all eyes were on her.

"I was looking at some of these other files. Apparently some of the head researchers stole his diary, that's why it's in here."

"So…"

"So, some of these files are from just before we arrived. The scientists injected him with something else while pretending to draw blood. They had begun to experiment on him. What they injected him with most recently will cause the counteraction to only weaken him slightly. Giving him human traits again, but he will still have abnormal strength and such." Rebecca replied quickly.

"Shit, so we can't kill him?" Barry wondered out loud.

"Not unless my plan goes to action soon." 

"Well, how can we help?" Leon asked.

"You can start by helping me up." Carlos immediately obliged, and stood by her. She walked unsteadily toward Wesker's cage, and looked toward the side. There was a small cabinet, and she pulled it open, finding syringes and other various materials, including a vial. She glanced at the two corpses, and pointed to the one that was less mutilated. "Um…can you guys clear that table off and put that guy on it?"

Everyone shared shocked looks. 

Jill, Claire, and Chris knocked everything off the metallic desk, and Carlos and Leon picked the man up, happy when they could drop the corpse on the table. 

"Jill, hand me the knife you used." Jill obeyed Rebecca's request, and took the knife from its spot on the floor. "Now, who wants to do the dangerous part?"

"How dangerous are we talking?" Chris asked.

"Drawing blood from Wesker." The medic replied simply.

"I'll do it." Claire reluctantly muttered.

"The hell you are." Chris replied.

She cast a glare. "What? Are you going to do it? You can barely walk." 

Chris sighed, a worried look overcoming his features.

Rebecca handed her the syringe and the knife for protection, and Claire walked slowly to the cage. She stuck her arm through the small space, and jabbed the needle into the Tyrant's wrist. She held her breath as Wesker began to flinch, and was glad when the tube was full. She removed the needle and half jogged toward the waiting doctor.

"Is he waking up?" Jill stared at the form.

"He's awake, but he just doesn't have the ability to move yet." Rebecca answered. She injected the blood into an empty vial, then removed another small vial full of clear liquid into the vial full of Wesker's blood, and stood back.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Barry hissed.

"I did some reading, and combined with the eavesdropping of Chris and Wesker's spat, I figured out something. Wesker told him you could make a clone in less than an hour, I read the studies, and by injecting DNA mixed with the Cloning Virus into a specimen, it will transform it into a replica of the person." Rebecca then took another syringe, and drew the mixed concoction into it. She then injected it into the corpse. 

"But those things were zombies." Leon murmured.

"Yeah, but they had been infected with the T-Virus also, not Wesker's Virus." 

"So what, you're making a Wesker?" Jill concluded.

"Basically."

"But where did you find the Virus, and how do you know this is going to work? Those clones that we fought were nothing but zombies that looked like us, they didn't have the same strength or anything, and how do we know it won't come after us?" Chris spoke quickly.

"I found the Virus on the floor while you and Wesker were fighting. The file says it's clear, so I put two and two together. Now, Wesker is still a form of a zombie. He's infected with the same sort of thing, meaning if he were to _bite_ one of us, we're infected. Spencer came to the conclusion that if a zombie is infected with the T-Virus, whatever it infects will be infected with the T-Virus. Spencer told Wesker that if he were to infect someone they would have his strength and capabilities." Rebecca explained. "As for coming after us, his memory will still be intact because of Wesker's Virus. Nobody liked Wesker, and as soon as he realizes what has happened, his rage will be directed toward Wesker…hopefully."

"So why didn't he infect us, or anything else?" Carlos was obviously confused.

Rebecca started to speak, but another voice spoke for her. "Because, if I were to infect you, you'd use your powers against me and my company. The power to infect on my part has to be used wisely, I would only use it on someone I trusted, something along the lines of what I was working on before you got here." The group stared at Wesker. He was still lying down, and he spoke with weariness in his tone.

"What were you working on before?" Leon asked hazardously.

Wesker ignored the question. "I do need to thank you before I kill you. You've taught me a few things I didn't know. It won't worry me anymore about getting killed. Especially after my partners are complete."

"What partners?" Claire countered.

"You two know them well." He motioned toward Leon and Claire. "Ada Wong and Steven Burnside."

Pained expressions crossed the couple's faces.

"They're not alive." Leon replied shakily.

"Oh yes they are, Ada faked her death to simply get rid of you. She was only using you, and Steven?" He looked from Leon to Claire. "I removed him from that facility while you and your brother were escaping." He finished coldly.

"Fuck you." Claire hissed. 

"Oh trouble arises in the relationship, two old flames are alive." Wesker hissed back. "I'm sure Leon would give anything to get his hands on Ada."

Leon saw the jealously in Claire's eyes. "I didn't love her."

"That's a good thing, she's with me now. What about Claire, I'm sure she's missing Steven terribly?" Wesker replied.

"He was a friend." She retorted.

Wesker smirked, and began prying at the bars. 

"Not gonna work, remember, we weakened you." Chris said.

Wesker continued his prying, and when the bars finally began bending, Wesker collapsed.

They watched to see if the mutant would move, but he didn't.

"Virus is still trying to counteract." Rebecca stated.

~ * * ~

Chris, Jill, Barry, Carlos, and Rebecca watched the corpse to see the Viruses affect, so far the corpse had convulsed a few times, and small changes were beginning to appear. Meanwhile, Leon pulled Claire off to the side as tension had grown between them.

"Claire, are you…are we okay?" Leon asked quietly.

She nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Just you seemed a bit distant, I didn't know-"

Claire waved her hand. "Leon, I'm fine. Are you?"

He sighed. "I was just worried about us. We had that talk when you and your brother returned home, and we told each other everything between us and Ada and Steve."

"I remember."

"You just seemed…jealous."

Claire's eyes grew wide. "Jealous, I am not jealous!"

Leon slowly stepped back, not wanting to witness Claire's temper. "Well, I figured you were hot under the collar from that remark. Hell, I was."

"You were jealous?" Claire almost laughed.

Leon furrowed his brows. "Yeah, I mean, I know you don't love him, and he was a friend. Still, it's a common reaction."

Claire nodded. "Okay, I'll admit it. What he said irked me a little bit."

"There's nothing to be jealous of though, he's manipulative, just like Ada. The bitch is getting what she deserves." Leon remarked.

Claire laughed at Leon's blunt comment, and he even smiled, but then a thought crossed into her mind. "Steve's not though." She looked up into Leon's oceanic eyes. "He was innocent just like all those other people."

Leon swallowed. "But like all those other people, Umbrella's turned them evil. Steve's not Steve anymore, Claire."

She sighed, hating the truth. Leon was right though.

"So if Wesker brings out Steve or Ada, remember that it's Umbrella's creation. Steve's long gone." 

Claire hugged Leon. "I love you." She murmured.

"God I love you too Claire." Leon whispered into her hair.

Then, there was no time to stay in silence, as Wesker crashed from his cage suddenly, aiming a gun at the unprepared team.

~ * * ~

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Author's Note: One chapter left! I've gotten one response from a reviewer about the sequel, but it's not enough for me to apply myself to another sequel. I've got the first chapter of the sequel partially written, and I might post an excerpt from it if I get enough positive encouragement for it. I hope your enjoying the story so far, although Fanfiction has been a bit tempermental lately, with the unresponsiveness and the overload messages. Okay, I've done my job, now you do yours, please review. Again, tell me if you want a sequel in your review or instant message me on AOL Instant Messenger at kickinxtreme.


	12. Corruption

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Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil, or anything associated with it. I do however, own the story.

Corruption

Chapter Twelve: Corruption

Within seconds, bullets were searing through the air. No one could react fast enough, and there was mass chaos when realization finally hit. Without thinking, Chris dove into Jill. He silently prayed to God everyone would be okay, and cursed himself for not seeing the gun hidden in Wesker's pant leg. A million thoughts rushed his head, but were immediately silenced as he felt the hot lead enter his body. He hissed in pain as the bullet lodged in his shoulder, but soon forgot it as Jill let out a yelp.

Carlos locked his arms around Rebecca, trying desperately to keep her head from hitting as they slid across the floor. He just barely saw the gun in their direction, when Rebecca shrieked in fright, and he felt the burning in his arm. Carlos wanted nothing more than to clutch the wound, but Wesker was still firing, and he knew they had to get behind something.

Leon pushed Claire down, feeling the bullet whiz by his stomach. He crashed on top of her, listening for Wesker, and their team. There were assorted crashes and yells, and he prayed for more, knowing the more yelling, the more survivors. The gunshots were deafening, and Leon looked down at Claire, whose eyes were wide with shock, and brimmed with tears. Blood was oozing from his stomach and onto her shaking body, and although he knew it was just a graze, Claire thought it was a fatal wound. 

Barry crashed to the floor from his spot in the chair. He quickly crawled behind a desk, searching for a weapon to stop the Tyrant from firing. He army crawled under another desk, his now numb ankle dragging useless behind him. He saw Chris crash into Jill, but he also saw the blood pouring from wounds in both of the couples. He quickly looked for everyone else. Carlos and Rebecca were huddled under a table, but Leon and Claire, he couldn't see. He knew they'd gone out of eye and earshot of the group just minutes before, but he could only hope Wesker hadn't gotten to them.

After what felt like forever, the gunfire finally ceased. Wesker stood, looking at the seven before him. He'd hit quite a few, but he couldn't quite see everyone. They were all still, but he knew that the seven weren't all fatally wounded. He stalked toward the majority of them, scanning for anyone but Chris. 

"Christopher, you shouldn't hide. After all the shit you've caused me, I'm killing you last. You'll have the pleasure of watching me rip apart these pitiful fools you call family, before I put you out of your misery." Wesker gripped the gun, there were no bullets left, but none of them knew that. He saw the knife lying on the ground, stained with his own blood, and picked it up. The first victim he saw was Barry Burton, and he raised his arm to stab him, when it was caught, and snapped viciously back.

~ * * ~

"Claire." Leon whispered.

"Oh God, please don't-"

"No, I'm fine. It-it was just a graze." He said quickly. He hastily lifted himself up, showing her where the bullet had sliced across his abs. 

"Oh thank God." She said relieved that the bullet hadn't entered him. 

It had grown quiet though, and that wasn't a good thing. Leon lifted himself all the way up, grabbing Claire's good arm with his good hand. They peered out from behind their barricade, dreading the visual.

Chris looked down at Jill, who was biting her lip. Her breaths were rapid, and every now and then a hushed cry would escape. The blood was coming from her abdomen, and Chris couldn't stop the thoughts of anatomy, and how many vital organs the bullet could be lodged in. He clamped his hand over the wound, applying pressure. She returned the gesture, her hand clamping shakily over the wound in his shoulder. Jill was slowing her breathing, knowing that the quickened breaths could lead to further trouble. Her eyes stared up at Chris' worried ones, and she gave him a reassuring nod. The worry didn't cease when her eyes grew wide though. Chris looked behind him, seeing the corpse move from its spot on the table. They watched intently, barely registering Wesker's rant, as their focus stayed on the corpse.

Carlos clutched at his arm as Rebecca looked at her side. The bullet had grazed her, and then entered Carlos' arm. She sighed, thankful he had been there. She was shocked, her feet planted to the ground, and she would have been dead had he not have reacted so quickly. Carlos scooted them up further behind the table, giving them a better view of Wesker. He was watching for movement, all while threatening Chris. Rebecca stifled the cry as he went after Barry.

Barry stared up into the hard eyes of Wesker. Though they were now green, they still weren't a normal green. Before they'd been a dark, almost black in tint. Now they were a vivid lime color, full of inhuman rage. Wesker raised the knife after finishing his threat, and Barry knew it was it for him, when the hand identical to the one holding the knife, twisted Barry's fate.

~ * * ~

He looked around confused at his surroundings. He was in the lab, he knew that much. The last thing he could remember was the pack of hunters crashing through the cages after the release had been activated. Suddenly everything fazed back in. It was so loud, and he recognized the voice that was yelling. It was Albert Wesker. Hate boiled in his blood. A group of scientists and him had been planning to expose Wesker for a long time, but all plans were halted as Wesker murdered Spencer, and everyone else superior or inferior to him. He'd only kept the cream of the crop, and at a time he thought he was lucky. 

The man stood, not remembering being so tall. He looked down at his arm. The limb was tan, and definitely bulked up. He looked at the white slacks that had risen to be almost shorts on his body. 

__

'What the fuck?'

He reached up to touch his face and his hair. He ran a hand through the tufts above his head. It was too thin to be his hair; his hair was curly, not straight. That's when he caught the glimpse of his reflection in the glass of one of the holding cages.

__

'The bastard turned me into him!' He concluded after the initial shock.

He saw the arm raised, and grabbed it with little strength. The arm didn't just stop, it continued to pull back, and _snapped_, shocking both Wesker and the scientist.

The lime eyes faltered from their coldness as Wesker saw the clone. He let his arm hang limply at his side, staring at himself.

"Where the fuck do you get off cloning me?"

Wesker smirked. "I didn't clone you. The bastards I've been after did." The shock was still in his voice.

That's when he actually looked at his whereabouts. He recognized the few he could see, the renegades that had wreaked havoc on Umbrella for the past several months. Rage he'd never felt so strongly before bubbled up.

"Go ahead, you've got my strength obviously. Let's rid ourselves from them." Wesker hissed into his ear.

For a second, the man thought about it. Then he remembered what him and his colleagues had been in the process of doing. They wanted to wash themselves clean from Umbrella. Nothing good was coming to them when Wesker took over. He wouldn't want them after he used their skills. The people that they'd been briefed on over and over were in the room with him, barely living from what it appeared. They had been trying to seek vengeance and wash themselves from the torture. He knew Umbrella had murdered innocent people, and all the group was doing was fulfilling what the scientists with the company didn't have the courage to do.

"I've got your strength?"

Wesker's smirk turned into a grin. "All of it."

He nodded, before drawing back the cloned arm, and striking Wesker, whose body flew across the room. He ran forward with speed he'd never imagined, and kicked his foot outward. Wesker doubled over, blood pouring from his mouth. He began punching furiously at Wesker's head, and he picked him up, dragging him with him.

He saw the first two, Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield, run forward. Looking down revealed Rebecca Chambers and Carlos Oliveira, Barry Burton, and then Christopher Redfield and Jillian Valentine.

"Who did this to me?" 

Rebecca raised a weak hand, expecting the clone to grab her. 

"Thank you."

"What?" She gasped.

"We've wanted to bring Umbrella down for a few months. We talked about it, my associates and me, but that's all it was…talk. You have had the courage to run in here, fighting for what's right, without any regard to yourself. You're not, as they called you, _terrorists_, you're heroes. They've rammed into our heads how evil you were, but you're anything but evil. By cloning me, I've got his strength, and I can do what everyone talked about doing." The clone paused. "I know it's too late to apologize for the pain, but I would like to help you in anyway, other than killing this asshole."

"We wanted to blow this place up, and get all the information we needed." Rebecca raised the folder. "We got the proof, we don't know where the self-destruct system is though."

"I see you found our evidence. Everything's in there. As for the manual self-destruct system, it's in the women's bathroom in the main lobby." Seeing the looks he added, "Nobody would think to look there. It's hidden behind the hand dryer. Get on the lift, go out into the hall, it's the fourth door on your left. I'll warn you, when you activate the self-destruct from the computer, it gives you thirty minutes, but when you activate it manually, you've got ten. "

"What about you?" Leon asked.

"I'm going to give this bastard what he deserves."

"But, we can't just leave you down here." Carlos said.

"What can we expect up there?" Barry asked weakly.

"I don't know, not much. Everything's down there, I can hear them." He tilted his head to the side. "Nothing's up on the main floor."

"Thank you." Chris whispered weakly.

"No, thank you." He replied.

Chris began to lift himself up, and he pulled Jill along with him. Claire and Leon grabbed chairs for Barry and Chris.

"Jill, can you walk?" Claire asked.

"I don't know, I think I broke my leg." She turned her attention to the clone. "You're a good man."

"No, I helped with all this." He looked down at Wesker who was coming to. "I'm going to end it, for the both of us. My colleagues and I should've put a stop to this before Spencer. We're going to hell where we belong." He slung Wesker across the room. "Just remember, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise, you're all heroes." With that said, the clone began to walk toward Wesker.

~ * * ~

Sadness was in the presence of the group as they made their way down the hall. They'd bunched everyone on the elevator, Jill sitting in Chris' lap, and Rebecca in Barry's, while Claire, Carlos, and Leon huddled into the corner. The scientist's words had surprised them. While most would have killed everyone in the room, he'd actually thanked them. Umbrella's employees knew what they were doing was wrong, only few actually felt guilty because of it though. Guilt was on their minds too, a mutual feeling of leaving the man down there. It was what he wanted, he knew he deserved to go to hell, but still…

"Fourth door on the left?" Leon asked, breaking an uncomfortable silence.

Assorted nods were his answer.

They trudged on, entering the door. Another hallway with a single door at the end met them. Rebecca looked at the group. Chris was looking very weak, like he was about to pass out. He'd injured his ribs bad, and his breathing was slowing because of it. Other than his side being terribly bruised, his shoulder was discolored, like it had been dislocated. The other shoulder was bleeding from the bullet wound, and the slice in his head was still pouring blood. Jill had protested sitting in the chair with Chris, scared pressure on him would hurt him, Chris had told her firmly to sit down, and now she was looking at him with a worried stare. The bullet in her side hadn't hit any vital organs; Jill would have lost consciousness by now. Her leg was definitely bruised, but Rebecca couldn't tell if it was broken. Leon was bleeding from his own graze across his abs, and his wrist was definitely broken. Claire's arm was broken and hanging limply at her side, the makeshift sling hadn't lasted long. Barry's ankle was almost sickening to look at. The bone was poking jaggedly from his sock, and blood had turned the original white color of the sock too red. Rebecca could only hope that there would be no permanent damage. She turned her analyzing to Carlos, he was walking with a slight limp, and Rebecca figured it was from the injury in his knee. There was a bullet wound in his arm, and blood was running down the arm, and onto the hand that was applying pressure to it. Rebecca looked down at her shirt. The blood had soaked through, having sliced across her side and into Carlos' arm. The pain in her head hadn't ceased, and the concussion was wearing her down.

After crossing the main lobby, they found the women's restroom nestled between two decorative trees. Leon and Claire entered first making sure nothing was lurking around in the stalls. Carlos got to the hand dryer, and began assaulting it, pulling at the machine. Everyone else kept watch outside. Carlos finally got the machine from the wall, and pushed back the debris. Neatly built behind various wires, was a switch. It looked like a fire alarm, but Carlos yanked the lever down. Almost immediately, a siren went off.

"BUILDING WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN TEN MINUTES! ALL PERSONELL PLEASE EVACUATE THE BUILDING THROUGH EMERGENCY EXITS. ALL LOCKED DOORS WILL BE RELEASED IN APPROXIMATELY FIVE MINUTES! BUILDING WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN TEN MINUTES!" The monotone voice was shrill in the building.

They quickly reunited, and began the journey around the desk and the bodies of the soldiers they'd encountered what seemed like an eternity ago.

"Okay, let's get the hell outta here!" Barry yelled.

Everyone let out an enthusiastic yell, and barged through the front doors of the building. The cool night air met them, and everyone felt a calming feeling course throughout their veins. It was soon replaced with a mix of adrenaline, as they realized they had to move. Claire and Leon took hold of the chair Chris and Jill were in, and began running, pushing the chair forward. Carlos and Rebecca did the same to Barry's chair, ignoring the pain coursing through their bodies as they ran full speed. The group met the wooded area behind the building, and pushed through the gate. 

"Five minutes until self-destruct!" The shrill voice was now a mere yell.

"Okay, you guys gotta get up. We have to get to the van, and the chairs won't go through the woods." Carlos said, helping Barry up. Rebecca stuffed the file down into her medical pack, and helped to get Barry moving.

Leon and Claire pulled Jill and Chris up. Leon locked his arm under Chris', who locked his arm under Jill, who locked her arm under Claire. Claire did the same, and met Leon's hand in the process. Their hands intertwined, and they looked each other in the eyes. It gave them a new burst of energy, and they began dragging Chris and Jill forward.

~ * * ~

After hauling the injured through the woods, they finally caught sight of the van. Their feet, stained with mud from the woods, hit the pavement. Rebecca pulled at the door, and began the task of laying down the seats. After a minute, the back was empty. Carlos pushed Barry in, and he crawled forward, heaving himself against the back of the driver's seat. Chris was next, with Carlos and Leon pushing him against the far side. 

"Let him lay down, he'll be able to breathe easier." Rebecca ordered.

Leon and Carlos stretched Chris out to the very right side of the van. Afterwards, they lifted Jill in, who sat back, against the passenger's seat, right next to Chris. Leon and Claire huddled into the bottom corner, in front of Barry. Rebecca and Carlos hurried to the front. It was decided Carlos would drive despite his knee, Rebecca was feeling dizzy, and the last thing they needed was to die in a car crash after completing their agonizing goal of defeating Umbrella. 

Rebecca settled into the seat, and began sifting through the documents in their evidence folder. Carlos twisted the keys that had been left in the ignition hours before. The van rumbled to a start, and Carlos slammed it into reverse. There were groans from the back, and Carlos knew speeding was probably going to hurt them, but they had to get out of the parking lot. The building was going to blow. He pushed the gears into drive, and sped out of the parking lot. The van crunched across the loose rock, and they finally got to the road. Carlos looked down at the clock. When they'd gone in, it had been somewhere around midnight, it was now nearing five in the morning.

__

'It felt a hell of a lot longer than that.' Carlos thought bitterly. He hit the accelerator, and the van excelled forward. The van rocked onto the paved road, and passed the woods the Umbrella Headquarters were neatly hidden behind. He slammed on the brakes, grinding his teeth together as his knee resisted the sudden movement. Everyone groaned, screaming obscenities.

"Carlos! What the hell are you doing? I can drive better than you and I can hardly see straight!" Rebecca yelled, setting the folder at her feet. She pulled the seatbelt down over her body, and clamped it down.

Carlos mocked her actions, and looked behind him. The road was bare, and he grinned. "From here we'll be able to see Umbrella go to hell."

Chris raised up, wincing at the pain, and looked out the window. Everyone's eyes shifted to the tinted glass in anticipation. 

They felt the low rumble start, and the van shook. Then everything stopped, and their faces fell. Then all at once, there was a great shake, and it felt as if an earthquake was about go off the Richter Scale. A fireworks display went off, and then a ball of fire was released into the sky. The heat singed the trees, and all its surroundings. The smell of blazing heat filtered into the van, as Carlos rolled the windows down. Then, there was a loud explosion, and the trees in front of them bent over from the force. The van shook again, and it felt like a gust of hot wind entered the van as debris flew around them. Carlos rolled the windows back up, not wanting anything to enter the car.

"We did it." Carlos murmured.

Tears streamed down Rebecca's face, and she turned to Carlos, gripping his hand.

Claire leaned back against Leon's body. She sighed, a grin creeping across her face. 

"We did it." Leon repeated into her hair. "We did it."

Claire grabbed Leon's hand, squeezing it in acknowledgement as her eyes blurred in tears.

Barry let out a gruff laugh, and ruffled Claire's soaked hair. They'd get to the hospital, and after all that was done, he could see his wife and kids, and they could celebrate. "We did it. We sent the assholes to hell!"

Jill trailed her fingers over Chris' face. He was smiling despite the pain he was feeling. She felt the twinge go through her body as she shifted.

"We're heroes." Chris said.

Jill nodded, stroking back stray strands of hair. "We are, and we survived. We got what was ours, and got revenge for the innocent." Jill paused as she began crying. "The guys didn't die in vain." She finished, referring to their S.T.A.R.S. teammates.

The van began moving again.

"It's over." Chris murmured before slipping out of consciousness.

~ * * ~

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Author's Note: It's complete! That was the final chapter. I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Now on to other business…the sequel. I got some response on it, especially from Dale, and after the Thanks To The Reviewers, an excerpt from the sequel is included. So read through, and if you have any suggestions, please tell me. My AIM screen name is kickinxtreme. Thanks.

~ * * ~

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Thanks To Reviewers

(In order from first review to last)

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lady..dynamite/lady: Sorry again for no Claire/Wesker. I love the Claire/Leon pairing, and can't separate those two. Thanks for encouraging me on the story!

Santiago: You've been very enthusiastic, hope you enjoyed the ending. Thanks.

Dale: Well now what can I say to you? You've been my most frequent reviewer on the story, and I'm really grateful for it. More Leon/Claire interaction will be incorporated into the sequel, and I hope I can return the favor seeing how you give me my fill of L/C. Again, I hope your mom's okay. I'm not going to argue over the sequel, but I want another chapter of Miracles Do Happen, now that you mentioned the plot twist, I'm even more addicted. As we've said before, I'm sticking with you until the end and then some!

Dragon: I wasn't sure I was portraying the characters right and thanks for telling me I was doing well. Since you said you were sticking with me until the end, I hope you enjoyed it.

Frenchy: Thanks for your reviews, I'm glad you liked the couples.

Pinguicha: Ah, my second most frequent reviewer. Ada and Steve didn't show up to wreck anything, I was going to put them in, but they really didn't have a place other than being mentioned. You can do another happy dance now, since Umbrella's gone! Update your story soon, I love the songs you use in your stories, the sequel's going to have some songs used to show the angst and emotions.

Otasnake: Thanks for your review, and I hope you enjoyed it.

Chris Redfield Fan: Glad you loved it, there's the end.

Hell: Um…thanks for the constructive criticism, but how is that out of character? Leon and Chris had no way of knowing if it was Jill and Claire, and Chris knew it wasn't his mother, but it was just hard for him to take in. That's my explanation.

ScoobySnax: You got it, a sequel's coming up. Thanks for saying you'll add me to your favorite author's list as soon as you can log in.

Now if I left anyone out, let me know and thanks to anyone who reviews after I post this!

~ * * ~

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Excerpt from "Aftermath of Destruction"

"They'll be okay." Leon reassured.

As soon as Claire turned to face him, mouth ready to reply, a doctor walked up.

"Claire Redfield?" He asked, deep voice rumbling out. He was fairly tall, standing a couple of inches above Leon. Claire estimated him to be in his thirties, and very arrogant.

"Yes." She replied, stepping in front of Leon.

"Your brother is Christopher Redfield?" He asked, impatience present in his tone.

"Is he okay?" She interjected.

The doctor ignored Claire's question, looked at his clipboard. "Has your brother ever broken or damaged his ribs before?"

"I don't…I don't know." She stammered.

"Well, you're his sister, shouldn't _you_ know?" The doctor retorted.

"Y-you would have to ask Rebecca Chambers, Jill Valentine, or Barry Burton. T-they might know." Claire was feeling very uncomfortable. The doctor was trying to make her feel guilty, and with what she'd just been through, it wasn't hard to do.

"Rebecca Chambers is sleeping, Jillian Valentine is in surgery, as is Barry Burton." The doctor rattled agitatedly. "Would Carlos Oliveira know?"

"No, I don't think so." Claire answered, steadying her voice.

The doctor sighed. "Do you know _anything_?"

Leon had stood back long enough. "Hey back off. She was in college for a year or so, she doesn't know everything about her brother." Leon said sternly, stepping between Claire and the doctor. "And she knows a hell of a lot more than you."

"And who are you? Are you related?" The doctor asked, glaring at Leon.

"I'm her boyfriend." He answered, returning the venomous stare.

The doctor smirked haughtily. "Then I suggest you don't spout off too much. This waiting room is for _family_ of patients only. You shouldn't be telling me my amount of knowledge compared to your girlfriend's, you should be _thanking_ me for not having you removed from here."

Claire glanced at Leon, who clenched his jaw shut. He took another step toward the doctor, who backed away quickly.

"No, _you_ should be thanking _us_. We just saved the every fucking person in this room-in this _universe_." Leon stopped and added more quietly, "And not one person knows it. So while you stand here and tell _us_ to be thankful, you should really stop and think. Our friends-our _family_- are in there because of _you_."

The doctor looked at him confused, but quickly regained his composure. "Well, I don't know what pain killers you are on sir, but-" The doctor stopped as Leon's free fist began to tremble. He turned his attention back to Claire. "Has your brother-"

Leon interrupted, "I believe my girlfriend asked _you_ a question."

The doctor looked at a seething Leon, and then looked back at Claire, who was waiting patiently. "What was your question ma'am?"

"Is my brother okay?" She repeated.

"He hasn't regained consciousness yet. The cut in his head had been opened too long, and we couldn't sew anything up. We just sterilized the area, and bandaged it. The bullet in his shoulder was fairly easy to remove, and luckily it missed the joint." The doctor paused, looking at the young, worried couple. "His ribs are what we're worried about. It appears he _re-broke_ ribs that were never fully healed. The lasting injury could possibly cause a permanent effect."

"What kind of permanent effect?" Claire asked softly. 

"Don't know yet. A few possibilities would be slight pain during strenuous activity, or worse constant pain. Then again, we can't see very well in the X-ray, so he may be fine. The main reason we're worried is because they, or something else, are causing problems with his breathing. He's not inhaling in a smooth fashion, causing his heart to work harder. In his weakened condition, it could be fatal." The doctor explained with a little bit of sincerity in his voice.

~ * * ~

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Author's Note: That's a small bit from the first chapter of "Aftermath of Destruction". The chapter is entitled "Tomorrow", after an Avril Lavigne song of the same name. Each chapter of the sequel will be named after a song, so it's a bit of a song fic. I decided to do this, because emotions can be expressed better through a song, and as you can see this will be a very emotional story. Not as much humor as in "Corruption", more angst and depression though. Expect the full first chapter in the next couple of days.

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